Brides
by ShimmeringDaisyFace
Summary: Brides are all different, of course. All girls are different. But heroines of Olympus are unique to an extreme. Over the course of eight summers, demigoddesses are getting married to the half-bloods of their dreams. And just because they saved the world once or twice, doesn't mean their weddings have to be average.
1. Prologue

_As you can see, I made some adjustments. Thalico is not on here anymore b/c HOH SPOILER Nico doesn't go for that gender :) and I officially ship Caleo :DDDDDD I'm in the middle of writing the Jasper chapter, so expect it soon!_

Brides are all different, of course. All girls are different.

But the heroines of Olympus are different to an extreme.

Over the course of seven summers, demigoddesses are getting married to the half-bloods of their dreams.

And just because they saved the world doesn't mean their weddings have to be average.

I will be telling the stories of seven young women:

Lou Ellen Stoll and the Disappearing Accessories  
Katie Gardner-Stoll and the Vines that are Growing Out of the Toilet

Rachel Dare Davis and the Wedding Prophecy

Piper Grace and her Fashion-Obsessed Mother

Hazel Levesque-Zhang and the Personal Gems

Calyspo Valdez and the Im/Mortal Ceremony

and

Annabeth Jackson and her Awkward Family

Even super-girls are intimidated by weddings.


	2. The First Stoll Wedding

**Hey everyone! I would write dedications and all that stuff but I'm on a strict time limit. I have eight minutes left and I just want to thank you all. I read all the reviews, and appreciate them fully. Sorry, I couldn't give you my response!**

Lou Ellen Nally's eyes snap open after feeling a poke on her arm and her hand floats under her pillow, where her wand and dagger lay in peace.

"Hey, hey Lou. Calm down. I'm just waking you up!" Alastrina Antonoff's big dark brown eyes stare at the daughter of Hecate.

"Don't wake me up." Lou Ellen's dirty blonde hair flips over on her pillow as the daughter of Hebe (also known as the maid of honor,) continues to prod her.

"I'm guessing you forgot what today is..." Alastrina's white blonde corkscrews were out-of-control and extremely shaggy. Like she'd just woken up.

"It's Monday. Shut up and let me sleep." Lou moans from her comfy space in the pillow.

"Let me remind you... Stoll?" Alastrina taunts, holding in a laugh.

The daughter of Hecate immediately sits straight up in her bed, little sparkles flying around. "I'm getting married today." Lou Ellen mumbles, hazel eyes wide, obviously in shock.

"Oh my gods, I'm getting married today. Today I'm marrying Connor Stoll. By tonight, I'm not going to be a Nally. I'm going to be a Stoll. OH MY GODS, I'M GETTING MARRIED. LOU ELLEN NALLY IS GETTING MARRIED AT THE GROVE, NEW JERSEY TONIGHT. AT SIX. TWELVE HOURS FROM NOW." Her hands were shaking and Alastrina sits next to her.

"It's gonna be okay. You do realize that you'll be marrying Connor tonight. Your 'one true love' as you say." Alastrina says soothingly. Lou Ellen's grimace slowly slips off her face, and she smiles and that little spark of yellow pops out of her hazel irises like it always does when she thinks about Connor.

"Now, you gotta get up. But on some sweats and a button up. We have to go to The Grove, okay Louie? Annabeth and Katie are already there." The daughter of Hebe says, happy for her best friend.

"Okay," Lou's eyes are still sparkling, but she walks to the bathroom and brushes her hair. "I'm getting married." She whispers to herself.

After ten minutes, and a mini panic attack from Lou Ellen, Alastrina leads the bride into the Subaru.

Lou Ellen is obviously stiff, but she closes her eyes and softly sings to the Spoon song playing on the radio.

Hazel eyes shoot open suddenly and Alastrina swerves.

"Where's my dress?" Lou Ellen stammers.

"In the back, sweetie." Alastrina responds calmly.

"Will it wrinkle?"

"No."

Lou Ellen sighs and closes her eyes again. This would be a long drive, from Long Island to northern New Jersey.

"Where's your dress?" The daughter of Hecate panicks.

"In the back, next to yours." Alastrina struggles to keep her patience.

"I'm sorry, Al, I'm just so..." Lou looks for the right word.

"Annoying?" The daughter of Hebe cracks.

Lou Ellen swats her best friend's arm and stares straight ahead, at the traffic.

After fourty-five minutes and Alastrina's multiple curses at jerks who've tried to pick her up from the driver's seat (She's the daughter of the youth goddess!), the duo arrive at The Grove.

Lou Ellen has seen it before, but she's still in awe. It looks like the love child of the Roman Senate House and a Mexican restaurant.

I'm getting married here.

Lou Ellen thinks, astonished.

Slinging the two dresses over her shoulders, Alastrina sends a quick text to Katie and Annabeth.

You guys are in the right room, right? By the ballroom balcony?

While the bride is staring at the building, Alastrina gets a quick response from Katie.

Yes! I see your car outside! Yay!

Alastrina drags Lou by the elbow, pushing through the heavy wooden doors.

"Oh. My. Gods." The two stop, staring at the lobby. In front of them was a slick black grand piano, and a table of seating cards with a huge bouquet of lilies, probably from Katie.

To their left was a set of double doors.

Double doors that held the key to Lou Ellen's future; the ceremony room.

Lou peeks through the small windows, spotting the altar, or what's supposed to be the altar. There's a bar where the altar is supposed to be.

"Uh, Trina? Can you come here for a sec?" Lou mutters, slightly nervous.

Alastrina laughs at the daughter of Hecate's mystified expression. There was a cocktail party the night before, and the manager promised that the bar would be taken care of before five thirty.

Lou Ellen sighs in relief and then walks around the lobby for a minute.

There was six or seven expensive-looking couches and chairs, so expensive looking Lou Ellen was afraid of sitting in them for fear of a spock of a stain.

"Hey Annie? I think I see the bride down there!" A familiar voice shouts from upstairs.

"KATIE!" Lou Ellen shouts, and races up the marble/ carpeted staircase. They're steep, but they already make Lou feel like a princess.

Giving long hugs to both Katie and Annabeth, they two girls lead Lou and Alastrina to their room. It was huge, with mini chandeliers on the mirrors, a flatscreen, and a bathroom (WITH A SHOWER!).

Lou is still inspecting the freaking awesome room when Alastrina interrupts.

"Annabeth? Katie? You've got the wrong room."

Annabeth looks a little sheepish, and everyone knows that's because she got something so easy wrong. Everyone ignores it though, and Alastrina guides the three to the real room.

They walk through the fancy carpeted hallway, and there is this four melded chair... thing. But it looks cool. So the four pile on one of the huge chairs.

"A girl could could get used to this," Annabeth moans, sinking in the fluffy, soft fabric.

"Totally." Katie responds.

Soon though, Lou shakes the girls out of their dazes and walks into the real room.

It's smaller, yes but much. much better than the last one.

The mirror is about one-fourth the size of the other one, but that's not that big of a deal. There's a walk-in closet, two couches and two chairs. A flat-screen also graces the room, along with a bigger bathroom.

The four lounge, and chat about life. Percy and Travis... and Connor.

Katie's phone beeps (Leo invented a monster-free phone,) and she giggles. "Oh my gods. Look what Travis sent me!"

The four girls laugh as they witness Connor, Travis, Percy, and Jared, a son of Ares and one of Connor's best friends goofing off as they trash the room that the girls had entered minutes ago.

"But I think they should have texted us before they walked in the room. We all know it's bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day, even if she's not in her wedding dress-"

Annabeth is interrupted by a knock on the door. Lou quickly opens it, and two girls walk in, one blonde and one brunette.

"I'm Anechka, and this is Sarah-" The blonde points to the brunutte, who waves shyly. "we're the hairdressers from the Dolls."

The four girls greet the hairdressers, who ask for Annabeth and Katie first. The maid of honor and bride would get their hair done last.

A bubble of excitement explodes in Lou Ellen's chest. Today she's getting married, and this is the first step!

The door sweeps open, and a girl with wavy light brown hair and eyes to match strolls in. "Who's my favorite bride?"

Lou Ellen squeals, "Abra!" The daughter of Hecate rushes to hug the newcomer, while the other girls look on. They've met Abra once at the bridal shower, but they don't know much about her, or even her godly parent.

Lou Ellen introduces the girl as, "Abra Spektor, daughter of Hermes." Each of the girls greets her respectively.

The metal doors in the hallway open, and a plump lady in a tux carries two trays of food and some drinks onto the expensively clothed mini-tables in the corners of the hallway. Abra and Alastrina rush into the hallway, but Lou Ellen stays in the room and smiles at Katie and Annabeth, both of their hair covering their face.

"Do you guys want anything?" Lou Ellen asks, grinning.

"Bagel with cream cheese, please!" Annabeth's grey eyes were sparkling under her curtain of blonde.

"Five pastries, my friend." Katie resquests, holding in a laugh. She always had an uncontrollable appetite. She blew a brown curl out of her face.

Lou Ellen Nally (soon to be Stoll) speed-walks into the hallway grabbing a bagel and buttering it with cream cheese (even the butter knives were crazy fancy!) and shoving as many cream puffs on a small plate as she could.

She walks back into the room with Abra and Alastrina, who are blabbing away, already fast friends.

Annabeth's hair is done, put into a simple up-do. Now, Katie's seems much more complicated. Anechka is currently recurling Katie's thick and uncontrollable curls, which is bound to take forever.

"Bathsheba?" Sarah asks, and at the precise moment, Lou Ellen gets a text, saying Bathsheba's in the parking lot. Sarah kindly says she can wait five minutes, and Lou jogs downstairs to meet an old friend.

Bathsheba immediately wraps Lou Ellen in a lung crushing hug, golden brown hair swinging all over the place. Her brown eyes are glowing out of happiness for Lou, and the bride guides her upstairs.

Swinging the door open dramatically, Lou dramatically announces, "Bathsheba-

"SHEBA!" A voice from outside interrupts.

Lou Ellen continues, "_Sheba _Nicks, daughter of Iris!"

Sheba mock curtsies and is shoved onto the stool for hairdressing. Poor Sarah has to wait five extra minutes, as the daughter of Iris shakes with laughter.

After small-talking with the girls for about half-an-hour, Lou Ellen wanders downstairs to look around once again.

A mop of shaggy brown hair is blocking the table with the place cards.

"Connor?!" Lou Ellen asks, in shock.

A grin lights up Connor's face, like a little boy on Christmas morning, and he runs over to her.

Wrapping her in an embrace, Connor Stoll lifts her up and kisses her. "Hello there."

Lou giggles like a tween, and kisses him again. He puts her down and she asks him, "What are you doing here?"

"It was getting cramped in there." Connor rolls his eyes.

"You know it's bad luck to see their bride before the ceremony, right?"

"Don't we already have pretty bad luck? I don't think that one rendezvous is going to hurt anyone."

Lou Ellen smiles larger than she's ever before and kisses Connor on the cheek before lithely running about the marble staircase, leaving her future husband staring after her.

"Louie, you rule-breaker." Abra fake glares at the bride.

"What?" Lou Ellen fakes innocence.

"We sent Annabeth to investigate what you were doing outside," Abra says, light brown hair being straightening.

"I can't believe you were fooling around with Connor before the wedding!" Annabeth scolds, and Katie and Sheba burst into laughter.

"Yeah, like you wouldn't do that with Percy." Lou responds, smirking.

Annabeth flushes pink, and Sheba and Katie laugh even harder.

Lou's phone beeps, and she and Alastrina jog downstairs to meet two of the bridesmaids.

A girl with stringy blonde hair and blue eyes and a girl with thick, black hair and green eyes walk through the wooden doors confidently, eyes glowly the moment they see Alastrina and Lou. A four people make a huge group hug in the middle of the lobby of The Grove.

The four girls race upstairs like little girls and enter the little room full of girls.

Everyone's snacking on little lunch burritos that the lady had put out for lunch, and laughing hysterically while Abra and Sheba continue getting their hair done.

The new blonde waves. "Hi everyone, my name is Chloe Schwartzman, daughter of Apollo." Her blue eyes sparkle, reminiscent of the blue, blue, New Jersey sky.

The raven-haired girl is quite timid. Half-heartedly raising a hand, she mumbles, "Deborah Astoria, daughter of Hephaestus."

Bathsheba quickly jumps out of the uncomfortable stool, and Chloe plops herself in the stool.

Abra finishes soon after, and Deb lightly puts herself on the circular chair, and Anechka simply curls Deb's short black strands.

Alastrina drags Lou into the bathroom, and Annabeth and Katie huddle around. Make-up time.

Time to be the bride.

Lightly brushing gold over Lou's eyelids and putting a nude lipstick over her lips, Alastrina enhances a natural look. Fifteen minutes later, Lou Ellen finally looks at herself in the mirror.

She is no longer Lou Ellen Nally, she is Lou Ellen Stoll.

No papers need to confirm that.

"Aw, gods. You're gonna make me cry, Lou." Katie fans her face, and Chloe and Deb walk into the stuffy bathroom.

They have that Lifetime movie moment where they're all tearing up, but Deb surprisingly breaks the silence.

"We should go to the other bathroom and do our make up there so we can be surprised after Lou and Trina do their make-up..." Deb's voice cracks, and the other girls agree.

Starting to open the door, Annabeth's grey eyes widen. "Perseus Jackson, why are you over here? Go away!"

"And Travis and Connor, scram! Go away!" Katie barks from the slit of the doorway.

"Louie, hide on the balcony! Go!"

Lou hides on the balcony, where the ballroom is displayed. She'll be dancing here, with Connor in a few hours. She'll be Connor's wife.

Oh my gods.

...

Meanwhile, the bridesmaids sneak through the small slit of the doorway. They keep track of the groomsmen.

There's Travis, Percy, and Jared of course. There was Jonah Jackman, son of Hermes. Noah Minelli, son of Athena. Samuel Woods, son of Aphrodite and Simon Cooper, son of Persephone. Lastly, there was Zachary Brock, son of Hyperion. All the groomsmen were shoving their faces with the salad burritos the girls didn't finish. Boys never grow up.

The bridesmaids jog barefoot to the girl's bathroom.

"Oh." Sheba's hazel eyes were stars.

"My." Annabeth was absorbing every detail.

"God." Chloe was in complete awe.

The bathroom was huge. A make-up table with four seats, a ten sinks, and seven huge, fancy... You can't even call them stalls.

They had cloth paper towels, and a full-length mirrors.

Oh yeah, and don't forget the chaise laying beside the make-up table.

Abra, Katie, Chloe, and Sheba dibbed on the make-up table so Deb, and Annabeth did their make-up at the sink's mirrors. No hard feeling though, the girls who had the sink also had the full-length mirror.

Slowly and carefully, the girls did their best work with the make-up, and walked out confident.

As a joke, they model-strutted back toward the girl's room.

The boys' jaws hung open. Well, everyone except for Connor. Connor was pacing, and sweating. He looks ready to have a panic attack.

The bridesmaids order the groomsmen to make sure Connor is turned toward the wall, so he can't see Lou Ellen.

The girls rush in the small room, astonished.

Lou Ellen looks... perfect. Everything a bride should look like.

Her hair was in small ringlets, and had little cornrows weaving little lines through her head.

They couldn't dwell on her too much, though. They had to go to a quick rehearsal downstairs, and Lou Ellen isn't going to attend.

The wedding planner was a small lady named Elizabeth with sharp features, cropped blonde hair, and a Bronx accent.

"Okay, so I'm gonna line you up. Simon and Deborah, Samuel and Chloe, Bathsheba and Noah, Jonah and Abra, Percy and Annabeth, maid of honor Alastrina and Zachary, and Katie and best man Travis. Is this all right?" Elizabeth snapped, brown eyes sharp and menacing.

They did a quick run through without Lou Ellen, and for some reason Bathsheba and Abra were singing N'Sync the whole time. Nobody knows why.

The girls jog upstairs to get their bridesmaids dresses on before the photographer comes in. The bridesmaids dresses were long, strapless gown in an orangey-pink color. Lou fell in love with them the moment she saw them.

The most important moment for the bridal party comes. Wedding dress.

The zipper from the David's Bridal gown slides down and out comes a cream colored piece. After slipping on her pumps, Alastrina helps Lou Ellen slip into her gown.

Lou Ellen Na- Stoll was beautiful. Absolutely glowing.

It was strapless too, but extremely puffy. There was layers, like an onion, but much more attractive than an onion. A little flower belt went around the waist. The pinkish color brought out Lou Ellen's skin tone. It was just... beautiful.

The bridesmaids led the way downstairs, flanked by dashing groomsmen in Jos. A. Bank. tuxedos.

Connor is twitching then ever, but suddenly relaxes as he watches Lou walk down the marble steps.

She is the most amazing thing he has ever seen in his life.

He meets her at the bottom of the steps, wrapping her in a tight embrace, crinoline swirling around the two.

The moment was perfect.

The bridal party and the groomsmen stood in a circle, jabbering about mundane things, secretly watching the couple fawn over each other.

Pictures. were strategically placed all over the couches and tables, posing as if they were models.

Serious, happy, laughing, looking up, chatting. God, it took ages.

There was the independent pictures with the bride with each of her bridesmaids and the groom with each of his groomsmen.

Soon came the process of independant pictures.

The details are quite boring to be honest, except that Connor kept tickling Lou so she would laugh during the pictures. That's the best part.

The bridal party wanders through the lobby as the happy couple wanders through the gardens outside. The furniture was suspiciously spotless, but the bridesmaid's heels are digging into their ankles, and ruining the chairs is being considered when Connor and Lou Ellen burst through the door, hand in hand.

They're laughing hysterically, and trying to utter something about umbrellas, but can't seem to fit it through the laughter. Lou Ellen's leaning on Connor, and the crinoline's brushed with grass, the bottoms of her kitten heels scrapped.

"Monster?" Percy asked, eyes wide.

"Yup." Lou mutters, still laughing. The golden dust makes the bride's hair look even more beautiful.

The wiry photographer pokes his head through the door. "We still need more pictures."

The two groan but grumble their way outside.

The bridal party and groomsmen are ushered upstairs so the guests who arrive soon will have their first views of the whole set at the ceremony.

But there is one last preparation; the wedding papers.

After the pictures are (finally) finished, the bride, groom, and friends are herded into a small, plain room with one large center table. This is the name changing, and the certificates.

The wedding director asks for witnesses, and Alastrina and Travis happily oblige.

"Dude, you realize right now you could change your name to like, Clark Kent or something like that. Right now," Travis mumbles, his head down looking at the stack of carbon copies, but there is laughter evident.

Connor looks up, eyes wide and just about ready to change it when Lou grabs his arm.

"No."

Connor pouts, but goes back to the papers.

After about ten minutes, the director says someone is going to need to hold the certificates in their pockets.

Percy immediately steps back, thinking the director was looking at him. "I'm irresponsible." The room explodes with laughter, the tension from the paper signing disentegrating. Eventually, Simon gives in and tucks the messily folded papers into his breast-pocket.

Katie, Travis, and Annabeth stare at all the guests from the top of the staircase, ducking their torsos over the bronze linings.

People watching is fun, and it gave them a chance to make sure no monsters wandered into the ceremony room.

Soon, the quartet walks into the boys' quarter, listening to Sheba and Noah tell an embarassing story from when Lou and Connor first began dating. The pair was was each bright red, but soon the talking slowly died down, realizing that the reception was done being set up, and the wedding was to begin in minutes.

The director comes in thirty seconds later, guiding the party downstairs and into the lobby, behind the double doors where the ceremony will be held.

Two minutes everyone stood in thier uncomfortable dress shoes, until Abra exclaims, "Uh, where's my pearls?"

"Yeah, my silver bracelet's gone." Deb's eyes widen as she looks at her left wrist.

"And my hankerchief/ napkin thing isn't here." Samuel mumbles, uncontrollable red hair obviously covering his mouth.

Lou Ellen's face flushes and she snaps her fingers, accessories magically appearing on various body parts. "Oops. A bit nervous."

Connor would comfort her of course, but he's already walking to his position at the altar, as anxious as Lou Ellen is.

Each of the couple walk up to their positions, Percy almost tripping on Annabeth's floor length gown.

Soon the doors whirl open, displaying a happy, but slightly flustered, Lou Ellen Nally. _Pictures _by Sia softly plays from the speakers in the corner, and Lou's cream fabric flows behind her. This is her dream, coming true right now.

Connor and Lou join hands, and Travis notices his brother has never looked this happy before, in a scratchy rented suit, holding hands with a daughter of Hecate with monster dust still in her hair.

The ceremony goes quickly, the director slightly droning in places, and Lou has to stifle a laugh.

The vows are spoken, and the rings are given to Connor by Travis, whose eyes are bright for his brother.

The rings each had the other's fingerprint imprinted on them, so even when they were apart, they would still be with each other.

Someday by The Strokes blares loudly from the speakers, and the happy (now married couple) practically skips down the aisle, overly large smiles seemingly stuck on their faces.

They stroll to the cocktail hour, where strawberry lemonade daiquiris wait happily for the wedding party. The couple has retreated upstairs, and the groomsmen see this as an opportunity to get a head start on the buffet lines. The girls, in turn, find five large tables situated near each other, and they settle down there.

Soon, the pool of guests spill through the small doors, daiquiris running out quickly. Piper, Jason, and Rachel seat themselves with Annabeth, Percy, Katie, and Travis and discuss the wedding, and other demigodly items of gossip.

Soon, after the initial food rush has ended, the doors of a previously unseen balcony open, and Connor and Lou Ellen glide happily through them. They are practically glowing.

They rush back in the doors, and in a minute they show up again, now entering the cocktail hour. Hugs, kisses, and random greetings with people who they've forgotten the name of are exchanged, and hour is going by slowly.

They really need some food.

But soon, the wedding party is once again herded up those marble stairs, and is stuck in the boys' and girls' quarter for fifteen minutes as the guests pool through the many entrances to the multi-colored-chandelier-lit room.

Percy and Jared invite Alastrina and Annabeth to pull a surprise visit to the receptionists through the balcony, and the two girls, letting the boys go through first, close the doors behind them.

Jared and Percy stay out there quietly for a few minutes, hypnotized by the astonished laughter of wedding guests.

Meanwhile, the happy couple is spread on the couch, chowing on some random hors de'voures placed on the glass table, and discussing old high school stories.

Soon though, the bridesmaids and groomsmen are ushered downstairs to prepare their extreme entrances.

After fifteen minutes, there was a three way tie between who won the best entrance. There was Percy and Annabeth; Percy, who decides it would be best to use his water powers, makes all the champagne bottles crack and explode, showering the room with golden water vapor sparkle things. There was Travis and Katie; wherein Katie grows all the vases the make a lagoon-like tunnel for the couple to walk through. And lastly, there was Connor and Lou, effortlessly strolling through the doors of the balcony, shrowded by golden light not purposely caused by Lou.

The wedding party stand in one long line, waving to wedding guests when the disc jockey orders everyone but Lou and Connor to exit the stage.

The folksy sound of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes cross through the static-y stereo system.

Connor and Lou Ellen Stoll put their forehead together, entranced by the acoustic guitars and each other's eyes.

**How'd you like?**


	3. The Second Stoll Wedding

**Hey everyone! This took me ridiculously long, but it was worth it! Thanks to: Tazmaster: **Aw, shucks. Thanksies. I didn't know they had a couples name...** krikanalo: **Thankie!** SonOfNeptuneJr.: **Thankseth! Neithereth caneth Ieth, and yeseth, thereth iseth an Octachel momenteth. Ha**. Elmlea: **Aw, thanks! I'm glad you liked it!** Alexandrar Jackson rocks Hades: **Thanks!** Myseybe: **Thaaaaaaaanks**! LittlePeopleKnow:** Thanks!** Erik The Viking: **Thank you**! SeaBreeze Daughter of Poseidon: **Aw, thanks. I worked hard on it. Your language is excused :)** sonofthetrigod: **Thank you so much! That was actually based on the wedding I was a bridesmaid in a few weeks back, and Sheba was based off this crazy bridesmaid :)** wisdomgirl0924: **I think you'll find out in this chapter :) Thanks! Thank you, really! That meant a lot!

**Book of the Update: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King**

**Song of the Update: For Now from Avenue Q**

**Dedication: wisdomgirl0924, because of her super cool review that made my week!**

**(Oh yeah, and Dalsyn I tooketh awayeth youreth cinnamon rolleth becauseth youeth deserveth iteth.)**

"Katie, you gotta go to bed." Annabeth moans, sitting on the couch next to Katie Gardner, soon to be Stoll.

"But I'm not tired." Katie whines like a little girl. And it's true, she isn't. She's wired, limbs tingling. Nothing unusual for a girl getting married the next day.

"Sweetie, you need sleep. The moment your head hits the pillow, you'll be asleep. I swear. I should know." Lou Ellen Stoll softly smiles, grabs her bag, and heads for the door.

"Night, Kat. See you tomorrow!" Annabeth says, and the two head quickly out the door, avoiding Katie's wrath.

Katie groans and trudges to bed. Getting under the covers, Katie closes her eyes.

Nope, this isn't going to work. What can she do to procrastinate? Call Travis? No, he's at the hotel. Call one of the girls? They would chain her to the bed. But 9:30 is wa-ay too early to go to bed!

Sighing, Katie reaches for the book on her nightstand. After shaking her hand all over the wood and potentially knocking over a vase, the daughter of Demeter realizes that Annabeth had taken her book with her.

Clever, clever.

Now what is she going to do?

Katie decides to make another attempt at sleep, and she rests her eyes. Blackness absorbs her.

...

11 P.M. Katie Gardner wakes up again.

After tossing and turning for about an hour, she tries to switch on the TV with the bedside remote.

Nothing there.

Thanks, Annabeth. You're not getting married to the love of your life tomorrow! You don't know how it feels!

After twenty minutes of mundane dreams, Katie falls asleep.

...

2 A.M. Yay. She lasted more than an hour.

Katie's starting to get twitchy.

She's getting married. She's going to have a husband. She's going to be a wife. She's going to get a new ring. Her last name will have a hyphen.

She's getting married to the dude whom she's hated since she was what, ten?

Eh, whatever.

Taking those dumb calming breaths Lou Ellen taught her, her heartbeat slows and Katie soon falls asleep.

…...

5 A. M. Yeah, right. Like Katie Gardner will fall asleep now.

Crawling out of bed, she pulls down her short shorts and grabs a throw blanket from the closet.

_Full House _is on. Katie softly smiles, and curls up on the cracking leather couch. Danny Tanner makes her giggle, and after thirty minutes, Katie's eyes crawl to half-mast.

Five minutes later, she's snoring.

….

"Ha. Give me ten bucks. Told you she would be asleep."

The door quietly creaks open, and Katie vaguely hears voices. Familiar voices, but she can't put her finger on them.

She hears a clanking of glass coming from the direction of the kitchen and soft footsteps peddling down the stairs. Low giggles echo into the living room.

"Hey, Kat. Wakey, wakey, eyes and bakey." Someone murmurs, but Katie refuses to open her eyes. She needs her beauty sleep for her wedding.

"God, girl. For the person who was supposedly refused to go to bed last night is sure sleeping soundly." Someone cracks, but Katie is too tired to smile.

Something soft and sweet-smelling tickles Katie's nose, and her sharp green eyes snap open.

"The Velvetleaf." Katie gasps, and she takes a look around the room. Piper, Rachel, Annabeth, and Lou Ellen are all standing around the couch, grinning.

"Ding, ding, ding, you are correct." Annabeth smirks, and snatches the yellow flower out of the daughter of Demeter's hands.

"Where the Hades did you get it? You can't get it in a regular florist, it's one of the rarest plants there is. Maybe-"Katie babbles, overjoyed.

"Maybe someone's mom, who specializes in flowers, might have left it with a note to give it to you in my apartment…" Rachel hints, waving her hands.

"Oh my gods, Mom? She did this?" The bride exclaims.

"Yup!" Piper rushes over and gives Katie a hug. "I told you she cares about you!"

Annabeth hands back the flower and the daughter of Demeter collapses on the couch, holding the Velvetleaf to her chest. "This is the best wedding gift _ever_."

The four girls pile on the couch next to Katie, and while the bride fawns over the special flower, the girls enjoy staring at the young John Stamos on _Full House._

The clock on the wall booms seven o'clock, and the bridesmaids have to yank Katie off the couch. She had fallen asleep again, and had been cuddling the flower like a teddy bear.

"Wait, wait!" Katie cries, already sprinting to the kitchen, mussed up brown curls flowing behind her.

The girls downstairs can hear running water, and then the sound of Katie jogging down the stairs again.

"Okay, I'm good." Katie had wrapped the single Velvetleaf in a wet paper towel and is currently fingering the petals like they might break any minute now. "You guys got the dresses?"

"Check." Piper says.

"I gotta go get mine." Katie moans, already tired of walking.

"Give me the flower, so you don't squish the bag against your new baby." Lou Ellen says, holding out her hands. Katie winces, and hesitantly hands over the yellow flower.

A few seconds later, Katie comes hefting a large, long black bag over her shoulder.

"This is my dress!" Katie says, slightly out of breath.

"We can see!" Annabeth smiles, and guides everyone into the gray SUV. Katie stacks her dress on top of the bridesmaid's dresses, and she smiles softly.

The five girls pile into the car, ready to head to a homely Marriott for the day. The car was soon silent, as Katie was twitchy, and if anyone said anything that could be remotely annoying to any size, race, gender, or age, Katie would lash out. And nobody wants that.

"Ninety-nine bottles of nectar on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of nectar. Take one down, pass it around, ninety-nine bottles of nectar on the wall." Piper sang half-heartedly, trying to lighten the mood.

Nobody reciprocated with more verses, so Piper looks down sheepishly and stays quiet.

The car ride to the hotel was fairly short, and fairly quiet (except for one chorus of 'Little Secrets' by Passion Pit by Katie) and after half an hour, the girls arrive at the shoddy building.

The girls pour out of the doors like water, the claustrophobia was beginning to get overwhelming.

They each grab their respective dresses, the little yellow flower poking its head out of Katie's pocket.

They easily climb the stairs (the elevator _had _to break down, didn't it?), the demigoddesses are part immortal after all. Rachel jams the key into the slot, and they enter the room.

It's cramped, with chipping wallpaper, two beds, and a couch. No TV, no stereo system, no nothing.

"Well, this is Styx compared to Lou Ellen's room." Katie grumbles, while Lou Ellen blushes.

"This isn't too bad. We'll get used to it, ri-" Lou is interrupted by the discovery of two sleeping girls on the couch.

One had straight black hair and extremely pale skin and the other was African American, with light brown curls and blonde streaks in a ponytail.

"Uh, do you know them?" Annabeth murmurs to Katie, who nods happily.

The daughter of Demeter runs and jumps on the two girls, who snap awake quickly.

"Thanks for the warm welcome, Kates." The African American girl mumbles, while the pale girls just rolls her eyes.

Katie notices the other girls staring. She stands up, brushes herself off nonchalantly, and says, "This is Rebekah Ebery, my half-sister-" Katie points to the pale girl who half waves, "And this is Galilee Sharpe, daughter of Dionysus." Galilee smiles, then yawns and begins to stretch.

Piper, Rachel, Lou, and Annabeth introduce themselves and begin to take their seats. Rachel claims the couch, along with Rebekah and Galilee. Piper, Lou, and Annabeth take the left bed, claiming, 'A bride needs her own area!'

"Gods of Olympus, I did not sleep well last night." Katie grimaces and flops on the bed, face first.

"There's no way you aren't excited for tonight, Kat." Galilee says.

"I am. As I said, I didn't sleep at all last night. And Galilee, I wouldn't piss me off today, okay?" Katie grumbles, voice muffled from the pillows.

"Ooh, someone's touchy this morning."" Piper whispers, and the girls laugh.

"Okay, I'm touchy, but someone took my freaking remote and my book! Who would do that?" Katie says, eyes narrowed in accusation.

"I'm guilty. I think you know that by now. You needed sleep, Kat!" Annabeth responds.

"Whatever." Katie says, half-asleep.

"I don't know if this is the right time to say this, but I didn't sleep at all the night before my wedding." Lou says, wincing.

Katie shoots straight up from her position in the scratchy pillowcases. "AND YOU TOLD ME I WOULD, WHY?"

"Because I wanted you to get some sleep, sweetie."

"But-" Katie's interrupted by a knock at the door. "This isn't over." She says, sending a pointed glare to Lou Ellen's spot on the bed.

After looking through the peephole, Katie opens the door with a smile. "Havi!" She exclaims, and wraps Havi in a hug.

The girl walks in the room. She has short, straight brown hair and hazel eyes. "My name is Travis Stoll's favorite sister!"

"Uh, your real name?" Rebekah says softly.

"Havilah Laurel. But please, call me Havi." Havi responds.

"Jael's on her way here." Havi says to Katie, like that was important.

"Ooh, yay! Okay, hair and makeup's at eleven, and it's nine. We need to have a good game of, drumroll please," The girls obediently tap various parts of furniture, "A good, old-fashioned game of Truth or Dare!"

Cheers of protest echo through the small room, but Katie insists.

The girls crowd into a small circle, and Annabeth says, "Guys, we can barely move in this room. How the Hades are we going to do dares?"

"I may not be a daughter of Athena but I always have a solution. We will play… Truth or truth!" More groans, but once again, Katie persists.

"Annabeth, truth or truth?" Katie asks.

"Oh, I don't know. Truth?" Annabeth says, drowning in sarcasm.

"Hm, okay. Who was your first crush?" Katie responds, leaning forward.

"Uh, Luke. Okay my turn!" Annabeth mumbles the first part, and picks Galilee.

"Galilee, truth or truth."

"Truth, I choose you!" Galilee pretends to throw a Poke Ball.

"First kiss?" Annabeth asks.

Galilee blushes scarlet and says, "Will Solace, Apollo cabin."

"Scandal!" Piper exclaims.

"Let's see who's a scandal. Piper, truth or truth?" Galilee says, mischievous.

The door sweeps open to reveal a Japanese girl in the doorway. She runs over and gives Katie a flying tackle hug, long dark hair flying behind her.

"Jael! Get off me!" Jael laughs and squeezes between Rachel and Havi.

"This is Jael Marley, daughter of Aether." Jael waves spastically.

Continuing, various embarrassing truths are spilt.

Piper's first kiss with Jason, what happened when Connor walked in on Eli and Havi making out, stuff like that.

Laughing, Katie checks the time. "Oh my gods, it's eleven fifteen. The hairdressers should have been here fifteen minutes ago."

"Call them. Like right now. I don't think you should walk into your own wedding with your hair in a ponytail." Rachel says, arms crossed.

"Okay, I'm on it." Katie grabs her iPhone and taps in her hairdresser's number, and the room is so silent you can hear the dial tone.

"Oh yeah. Hi. I'm calling because my hairdresser are twenty minutes late on my wedding day. OH MY GODS I'M FREAKING ON HOLD." Katie yells.

Meanwhile, the girls are continuing their game of truth or truth.

"Rachel, first boyfriend?" Jael asks, smirking.

"Uh, don't tell Octavian, but it was Percy." Rachel says sheepishly.

"Annie, did you know about this?" Piper asks, in shock.

"Yeah. But Rachel didn't steal him away from me or anything. I'm still gonna tell Octavian though." Annabeth laughs, grabbing her cell.

"Oh no, ple-aaaaaaaaase Annabeth! Don't tell Octavian! He'll be so pissed off!" Rachel begs, and Annabeth puts down her phone.

"Soon, Rachel. Soon." Annabeth smiles and raises her eyebrows. Rachel groans and put her head between her knees.

"Yes, thank you. Keturah and Leah. They didn't put me down on their list? Well, I sure paid the hundred bucks. They'll both be over as soon as they can? Thank you." Katie hangs up on the clerk, and goes and belly flops on her bed, moaning. "They'll be over in like, fifteen."

"I'll give you a recap: it turns out Rachel's first boyfriend wasn't Octavian after all, it was Percy." Lou Ellen says.

Katie head comes up, green eyes wide. "You're kidding."

"Why is the fact that Percy was my first boyfriend so weird?" The ginger asks.

"Well, maybe because Octavian and Percy will forever hate each other, even though Octavian's gotten better with his… issues." Piper responds.

"Uh, issues?" Rachel snaps.

"Well, we all know he was a bit… homocidically inclined and slightly creepy before he met you." Annabeth says, holding down a laugh.

"True." Rachel gives up her argument, and giggles.

Uncharacteristically, Rebekah stands up and exclaims, "I got Wi-Fi!"

A wave of happiness spreads across the girls, and Katie grabs her phone. Ra Ra Riot blares from the phone's tinny speakers, but no one cares.

After a mini-dance party, Katie checks the time again. Twelve. She turns the music off and dials in the number for the hairdressers.

"Uh, hi. I called about forty-five minutes ago about the missing hairdressers… Yes, Keturah and Leah… They were supposed to be here at eleven thirty. They're busy? I'm sorry, I made an appointment two months ago. They weren't busy then. Well, you know, I'll just find a last minute hairdresser, one that's not _busy._ My friends who will be getting married will hear about this. Goodbye." Katie slams the phone down.

"Never go with this business, you hear me?" Katie yells. "Guess I am wearing a ponytail for my own wedding."

"Wait, wait, wait, Kat. I am a daughter of Aphrodite. I have my resources." Piper says as she picks up her phone. "Hey, Magdalen, Naomi. Are you doing anything this lovely afternoon? No? Well, can you come over to help me and my friends with hair and make-up? Oh, thank you! Yes, the Marriott on Main. Thanks again! Fifteen, okay? See you then!" Piper hangs up the phone, smiling wide.

"I'm lucky I have make-up artists and hairdressers for sisters." Piper says simply.

"Oh, thanks Pipes. You saved us from looking like monster Styx at the wedding."

Piper laughs, and they continue the game of (now romance themed) Truth or Truth.

About ten minutes later, the wooden door creaks, and four girls enter the room.

"Hi guys!" Piper exclaims and embraces all four of them. "Introduce yourselves!"

A gorgeous Latina girl steps forward, "I'm Magdalen Bangor, this is Naomi Donaghadee-" Magdalen points to the petite, elfin-like girl, "That's Orpah Trimble," Naomi points to a pretty, tan girl with shoulder-length black hair, "and this is Peninah Halliday." Orpah motions to a girl with wavy, dark blonde hair and navy eyes.

"We will be your hair and make-up artists today!" Naomi finishes. "Jael, go with Magdalen, Havilah, come with me, Galilee, go with Orpah, and Rebekah, go with Peninah."

The girls go to the bathroom, and situate themselves on some portable stools the hairdressers had brought in.

Peninah walks out of the bathroom quickly, eyes wide in shock. "Uh, Katie? Can you come in her please? And hurry?"

Thinking somewhere along the lines of Hydra, Katie grabs her sword and sprints to the bathroom.

"What-" Katie starts to say, but notices the toilet. Vines, spooling out of the bowl like it was vomiting from the inside. "Oops. Sorry. Must be the nerves, you know." Focusing on the plants, Katie wills them to go back to where they came from. "Glad you told me. It could have ended up like Little Shop of Horrors."

Blushing, Katie walks back into the bedroom.

"What happened?" Annabeth asks.

"Vines. Toilet. Me." Katie says simply, and the other girls laugh.

A piece of paper is slipped under the door, covered with scribbly hand-writing that could only mean Travis. Katie opens the door and looks down the hallway to see Travis jogging to the stairs.

She shouts his name, and he turns around and smiles wide, bright blue eyes sparking.

"I'll see you later!" He calls, like they're just going out for a lunch date or something.

"Okay!" Katie waves, turns around, and closes the door.

She must have looked happy, because Lou Ellen asks, "Travis was out there, wasn't he?"

"How could you tell?" Katie grumbles, thinking she looked completely nonchalant.

"According to the descriptions of my face after my pre-nuptial rendezvous with Connor made by you. You matched, Kat." Lou smirks.

"Oh shut up." Katie says.

Four bridesmaids come out of the bathroom, coughing. "Hairspray poisoning," Havi pushes out, and the four girls collapse on the couch, being careful not to ruin their (perfectly done) hair and make-up.

Rachel, Lou, Piper, and Annabeth are quickly ushered into the bathroom, and the wheezes from the chemicals are in the air can be heard to California.

After she gains her breath, Rebekah says, "I heard you saw Travis."

"How did you find out?" Katie has blushed way too much over the course of the last hour.

"We have ears. We heard you two yelling to each other in the hallway." Jael says simply.

"Oh, Hades. What is wrong with seeing your fiancée before the wedding?" Katie mumbles.

"That's what I said! But no, no one listens to me." Lou Ellen snaps from the bathroom.

"Mine was a simple conversation, yours was like a seven minute date." Katie retorts.

"Burn!" Rachel yells.

"Eh, whatever. You win." Lou says from the bathroom.

Soon, the last four bridesmaids are kicked out of the bathroom. Rachel curls were simply re-curled, so it looks like she has red flames trailing down her back. Piper has a simple French braid, Lou Ellen has a bun, and Annabeth has a fish tail, with her blonde curls running across her shoulders.

The four hairdressers walk out of the bathroom, hairspray trailing out of the small area like a fog machine.

"Your turn, Katie!" They grab Katie's arms, and practically drag her in the bathroom. She mouths, _Help me! _to the other girls, but they smile and let her go.

The daughter of Demeter has a spastic coughing fit in the bathroom, and the hairdressers/ makeup artists wait until she's done to start.

They brush a light lavender over her eyelids, and a sweet-tasting lip gloss over her mouth. Blush is brushed across her cheeks quickly, and soon the girls tell her to open her eyes.

She's gorgeous.

Like, Aphrodite gorgeous.

Katie never wears makeup, so this is new for her.

"Hair time!" Orpah squeals, and soon Katie's eyes are closed again. She feels her hair being tugged on light, and twisted. Pins go into her hair quickly, and a wave of hair chemicals wash over her face.

She hears footsteps, and hushed voices. The conversation ends quickly though, and the sound of unwrapping fills Katie's ears.

Something is tucked into her hair.

"Open your eyes." Magdalen says, and Katie sees her hair, twisted into an intricate up-do. It was gorgeous, but the best part was the Velvetleaf was braided into the hair, almost like a crown.

"Thank you." Katie whispers, and hugs each of the stylists in turn.

Katie walks out of the bathroom, and the girls gasp. She hears murmurs of, 'Wow!' and 'Beautiful!'

"Who told the stylist to put the Velvetleaf in my hair?" Katie asks, out of curiosity.

Rebekah shyly raises her hand, and Katie goes over to her. "Thank you for remembering." She says, softly.

Rebekah smiles, one of her rare, genuine smiles that light up her pale face. "Hey, you're my favorite sister. That's what sisters do."

"Hey, Kat? What did Travis's paper say?" Annabeth wonders.

Katie had completely forgotten about the paper itself, the chaos of the wedding had overshadowed it.

She picks up the slip and reads it out loud, "_Hey, Katie-Kat-_" Katie stops and rolls her eyes. _"The director came in and gave us the order we'll be walking down the aisle in. The list is on the back. See you soon, your near and dear soon to be husband."_

"Travis has no sense of commas, I've realized." Katie laughs.

"So, Annabeth you'll be with Percy, Piper with Jason, Lou Ellen with Connor, Liz with Abel, Galilee with Cain, oh. Uh, Havi, you're with Daniel. Don't know how that happened-" Katie's interrupted by an outburst by Havilah.

"Daniel?! Are you freaking kidding me? Him? He is the most annoying, vile people on Earth! Really?" Havi moans. "Why couldn't you have put me with Eli? We're married, after all."

"Probably a joke from Travis and Connor." Lou Ellen guesses. "You are Travis's favorite sister, after all."

"Ugh, I'm gonna kill Travis when this wedding is over." Havi grumbles.

"Oh yeah, the last couple: Jael and Eli." Katie continues like nothing happened.

Jael begins to laugh hysterically, and Havi's about to curse her out when Galilee puts her hand over her mouth.

Havi's eyes narrow suspiciously, and Galilee jerks her hand away. "Gods of Olympus, she licked me!"

"Uh, guys? We have to leave in an hour. Dresses?" Annabeth asks, and Rachel walks into the small closet cramped with black bag.

She passes each one out, and they begin to change into the dresses. Well, all except for Katie.

The bridesmaid's dresses are dark green, going to down the mid-thigh in ruching. A long bow goes down the shoulder.

"Oh, gods. You guys are beautiful." Katie murmurs, tears in her eyes.

"Ah, don't cry, Kates. I'll cry, and my mascara will run." Piper mumbles, about to cry.

They all laugh for a few minutes, and side comments aren't spared. But soon, Katie knows what comes next.

One long black bag sits alone on a hanger.

It's time.

"Hey, Bek? Can you hand me the bag?" Katie whispers, and Rebekah hands her the bag lightly.

"Time to unzip the baby, eh?" The daughter of Demeter cracks, hoping for a laugh. Silence.

Annabeth and Rachel help her stand into the dress, and they zip and button up the back.

Katie looks in the small mirror in the bathroom, which reveals a girl in a figure-flattering white dress, with flower lace. The dress sputtered out at the end, and the top had a sheath over the chest, and little vines of flowers went up her shoulders.

Hello there, Katherine Gardner-Stoll.

….

The walk down the stairs, earning a lot of weird looks. It's not every day you see a bridal party strolling nonchalantly down the stairway of a cruddy Marriott.

They are stuffed like sardines in Annabeth's SUV. But unlike that morning, there is no tension.

They roll down their windows, embracing the summer air. Annabeth blasts up the local Indie/ Alternative station, and the eight of them their sing (most of them tone-deaf) their hearts out.

They get a lot of glares, and second glances. Once again, it's not every day you see a bridal party packed in a SUV singing to Foster the People.

After about an hour, the bridal party arrives at the Manhattan Beach Botanical Gardens, where the wedding will be held.

The guys are already there, and they guide Travis (who has his eyes closed) over to where Katie is standing.

They sprint about forty-feet away, so they wouldn't be disturbing the reunion, but they could still eavesdrop.

"DUDE, OPEN YOUR EYES ALREADY." Percy shouts, and Travis's blue eyes flutter open.

"Oh my gods. You're perfect." He whispers, taking everything in.

They embrace, just holding each other for a few minutes.

"I'm ready. Are you?" Katie murmurs.

"I have been for years." Travis responds, and kisses her on the cheek.

They walk back to the bridesmaids and groomsmen, who are simply staring at the couple, who shake out of their daze.

"Is it time?" Rachel asks. "Do we need to get in line now?"

Travis looks to the sullen photographer, who just nods.

The couple embraces one last time, and they return to their rightful spots in the line.

Katie planned to walk down the aisle by herself. She wasn't sad or anything. She was an orphan. That's what orphans are; no parents.

So, Katie walks to the back of the line, softly smiling, ready for a life milestone when the least expected happens.

"Katherine." Someone says from behind her.

Katie turns around slowly, to reveal a fat, bald man with bright blue eyes, reminiscent of the ones Katie had as a little girl.

"Uh, and you might be?" Katie responds, suspicious.

"David. David Gardner."

"Holy Styx," She mumbles under her breath. "You're my father."

"Yes." David opens his arms, like he wants a hug.

"You're kidding me, right?" Katie says, incredulous.

"No, I'm not! Come give Daddy a hug!" David exclaims.

"No." Katie turns around and keeps her head up. Regal. Think regal.

"Why, sweetie?" David sounds sad, like he expected her to be overjoyed.

"You dumped me in foster care at age five. For no reason except because ALEXA didn't want any children." Katie snaps.

"I'm sorry, baby." David sounds teary.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. I have my own family now, thank you very much. You're not welcome here."

"Please, Katherine." David begs.

"No. And I go by Katie, not like you would know." Katie scowls, and David turns around, shoulders sagging, leaving the arboretum.

Each couple walks to the amphitheater, and Katie is left to walk herself down the aisle. Like she's meant to.

She passes across rare and beautiful flowers, but the only thing Katie focuses is Travis's eyes.

She arrives at the altar, Travis staring at her like she was star up from the sky.

Katie smiles back, and the ceremony drones on. She says the right words and does the right things at the right time, but Katie knows neither of them are actually paying attention.

They are too lost. Too ecstatic.

After an hour, they stroll down the aisle like they're simply walking through the strawberry fields at Camp.

Perfect. Their life is perfect.

….

_Epilogue: Connor's Speech:_

Travis and Katie sit at their lone table at the reception, and watch Connor pull up a chair like he's joining them for dinner.

Oh, here it comes.

"So, Trav told me I had to write a speech, the jerk. He knows I hate writing. I wish I could stay I worked on this since the day he told me he was getting married, but I turns out, I forgot.

I'm making this up as I go. That's how much I love you, brother." Connor begins and Travis rolls his eyes.

"So yeah. I remember when you first met Katie. You guys like, totally hated each other. It was kind of ridiculous exactly how much you to despised each other. You guys wanted to murder each other.

I have to say, Katie, it was really fun to prank your cabin. The bunnies; epic. The plant killer; epic. But the day we planted the dandelions in your garden; the freaking best.

But that summer after the Giant War, when you said something like, 'You know, maybe we should prank the Aphrodite cabin instead of Demeter.' I knew something was up.

And then you were like, 'Oh my gods, Katie's so gorgeous and beautiful, do you see how amazing she looks when she planting?'-"

"Dude, I never said that." Travis interrupts, blushing.

"Oh believe me, my new sister, that Travis would go on for freaking hours about you. Seriously, it was the dumbest thing.

I realized you were so lovestruck, that I literally had to push you guys together. Well, Lou helped. But it was mostly me.

So anyways, I kinda started to regret putting you guys together because of the PDA and fluff, and all that Styx. It was probably the most disgusting experience I have ever encountered.

And then I saw exactly how happy you were, Travis. You were never that happy. I swear to the gods. It was all worth it then.

Lastly, Katie. Wow. I can't believe I'm saying this, my ten year old self would kill me with a rusty dagger, but I don't care.

Welcome to the Stoll family. We're glad to have you."

**How'd you like it? Dresses are on ma profile!**


	4. The Dare Davis Wedding

_Hey sweeties! I'm back, but unable to use the internet for anything but posting stories and music, so if you get send a PM to me and I don't respond, I'm not just ignoring you I CAN'T. This_ _took me ages, so pllleeeeaaasssee enjoy:) Thanks to: SONOFNEPTUNEJR: Thanksies! And Uh, this is the Octachel chappie that you DIDN'T want, but I didn't put that much fluff in it :) I'm in a good mood! SONOFTHETRIGOD: Aw, thanks. ME TOO OMG THEYRE JUST SO PERF KORYANDRS: Yeah, me too. That was HARD Thanks! ELMLEA: Yay! I'm glad! Thanksies! ALEXANDRA JACKSON ROCKS HADES: Thanks! GODDESS OF IDIOTS: Aw, thank you :) I've been to two, Lou Ellen's wedding was based off the latest one, and this one is kinda based off the first one! ERIK THE VIKING: Thank you! SEABREEZE DAUGHTER OF POSEIDON: Oh, thank you! You are so sweet, do you know that? CJM86: Will do ;) DAUGHTEROFTHEHUNTRESS: Oh, thank you! That's so kind! THALIA GINNY C: Thank you so much! Guest: Will do;)_

**_OKAY GUYS, SO THIS IS A FEATURES A SHIP THAT ISN'T TOO SHIPPED, SO I DIDN'T INCLUDE A LOT OF FLUFF. PLEASE GIVE IT A CHANCE THOUGH, WILL YA? 3_**

Rachel Elizabeth Dare had just hung up with Annabeth when someone knocked on the door. She shoves a handful of popcorn in her mouth and she peeks through the peephole.

Oh, well, this is wonderful.

She throws on a fake smile and throws open the door to reveal an overly Botoxed, bleached blonde, fifty year-old. "Mom!"

Holly Dare rushes forward to embrace her daughter with her thin arms. "Oh my dear, Rachel. You're growing up so fast! May I come inside? I thought we could have a bit of a girls' night!" Holly babbles.

Rachel's flabbergasted. She's wanted a girl's night with her mother since she was four. Is it okay that it feels like a little too late at twenty-five? "Uh, sure. I guess."

"Oh great!" Holly claps her hands enthusiastically. "Merilee will bring up my bags for the night!"

Rachel's jaw practically hits the ground. "For the night?!"

"Of course! Don't you sleepover during a girl's night?" Holly narrows her eyes, like she thinks Rachel might not want her there.

"Well, yeah. But we only have one bed…" Rachel stammers, still in shock.

"You and Owen-"

"Octavian." Rachel sharply corrects. A mother should know her son-in-law's name.

"Same difference. You go on those nature reserve campfire things all the time, right? You must have sleeping bags. We can sleep next to each other on the floor in the living room!" Holly beams, and Rachel weakly smiles back.

"Uh, okay." Rachel mumbles, and walks to the closet to get the sleeping bags.

She hears the door open, and some rustling. Merilee (her mother's new assistant) must be delivering the bags, so with the knowledge of the amount of luggage her mom brings to prepare for a dinner party, Rachel knows she has some time. She closes the closet door and takes out her cell.

She dials the number, and the tone rings and rings until someone picks up.

"Rachel? What's wrong?" Her fiancé sounds worried.

"Okay, Octavian, this is going to sound really weird but I'm in a major dilemma here. Mom's here-" Rachel begins to ramble.

"Your mother? As in Holly?" Octavian says, the static from the phones twisting his voice.

"The only one I have. She's acting like she cares." Rachel murmurs, hoping her mother can't hear her.

"Seriously?" Octavian asks, and Rachel can practically see his blue eyes widening.

"Yeah. What should I do?" Rachel pleads, knowing she's running out of time.

"Uh," Octavian hesitates. "Just humor her, I guess. I mean, you wouldn't want your mom to be pissed at you at your own wedding, no matter how much you don't like her."

"You're brilliant, Octavian. I gotta go, Mom's probably getting suspicious. I love you." Rachel says her goodbyes and hangs up. She sighs, knowing there was no one else she would rather spend the night before her wedding with than Octavian. Who made that rule, anyway?

"Rachel Elizabeth?" Holly's shrill voice echoes through the short hallways of her Manhattan apartment. "Where did you go, darling?"

The Oracle of Delphi exhales slowly, and then puts on her perkiest voice. _Humor her, _Octavian's voice plays in her mind, and she begins to talk. "Sorry, Mother! Just couldn't… Um… find the sleeping bags! Big closet, you know?"

"Oh, I understand, sweetie. A big closet is the biggest monster." Holly says sympathetically. Sure mom, Rachel thinks, I envy that your biggest monster is a closet.

"Hurry in here Rachel! Mommy has a surprise for you." Holly practically cheers from the living room.

Rachel inwardly winces. A surprise from a mother who knows nothing about you is not to be desired.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare, soon to be Davis, enters the living room, which is now littered with black bags of all shapes and sizes.

"Here you go, darling! Versace owed me, so here you go! Free wedding and bridesmaids dresses for tomorrow!" Holly trills, and Rachel looks down, embarrassed.

"I really appreciate this, mom, but Annabeth, Piper, Katie and I all went to David's Bridal a few months ago for this exact reason. Thank you though…" Rachel mutters, feeling awkward.

Holly Noelle Dare's blue eyes squint like they do when Walter Dare says she can't buy the heels she sees in Nordstrom. Her voice turns a cold (a tone Rachel has grown to know), "Was I not invited to this event?"

"We invited you, but you said that you had to go on an important luncheon with Miss Stella Snow." Rachel was sick of the _Humor Her _mechanism. It obviously was not working, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare was not one to let people push her around.

"No, that wasn't the case. I would have remembered." Holly glares at her daughter, and Rachel softly smiles because she sees the doubt in Holly's eyes. Rachel has won this battle, because she's not lying. Annabeth made her call her mother, so something like this wouldn't happen.

Of course she was hurt that Miss Stella Snow was more important than Holly's own daughter but she was used to it.

It happened all the time, this was just another straw on the Diamond Camel's back.

Rachel Dare, soon to be Davis, must have looked pretty pathetic because her mother's icy eyes suddenly softened.

"Oh, sweetie. It's alright-"At this point, Rachel was about to roll her eyes. "I'll forgive you- if you show me the dress." Holly's smile was sickly sweet.

Rachel was just about to go along with it, when she remembered what her dress looked like.

Her mother would die when she saw it.

The ginger decides that it would be best to just bluff herself through. "Oh, Mother! You know it is bad luck to see the wedding dress!"

Holly Noelle Dare laughs, a sharp _tat-tat-tat _sound. "My dear, it's only for the husbands! There is nothing against mothers in that tall tale!"

Rachel mentally winces and spills the first thing she thinks of. "It's a Greek tradition, Mother!"

Her mother looks at her with a condescending expression. "Darling, we're not Greek."

Failed. This bluff contest was a fail. We're done. But Rachel just needed one more try, so she prayed with all her Hero of Olympus cred to Hermes and Mercury to help her with one last lie.

Her wish was granted.

Suddenly, words spilled out of her mouth like a waterfall. "Mother? Did I say Greek? Oh, silly me. I meant Roman, since Octavian is Roman, you know."

Saved.

Her mother nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm sorry, darling! I didn't know that Oakley-"

"Octavian." Rachel corrected once again, knowing her mother would never change.

Holly continued on as if nothing had happened. "-Was of Roman descent! I shouldn't have protested. I'll see it tomorrow!"

"Thank you, Mother." Rachel exhales. Her mother bought it.

"Oh, you're welcome darling. I'm going to go get my pajamas on in the bathroom, so why don't you go get your pajamas on in the master bedroom?" Holly proposes, and Rachel knows it's not a question. No one protests against Holly Noelle. Even on the night before their wedding.

Rachel throws on some plaid, paint-splattered pajama pants, and a shirt of Octavian's that he let her keep after actually spilling a fourth of a can of red paint's contents all over it.

She almost dances across the room, careful to avoid paint tins and brushes and supplies from the Sherman Williams down the street.

When she gets out, Holly is already lounging on the couch in a long pink silk nightgown, her white blonde hair fanning in a circle around her plastic surgefied face. Rachel just about sits down on the couch, but her mother has left no space for her, her spider-veiny feet covering every last inch of it.

Well, whatever. She'll sit on the floor.

When Rachel Elizabeth Dare was younger, her and her mother would go out to a dinner party or something, and she'd sit down and put her coat or pocketbook on the chair next to her, and Rachel would be forced to sit on the floor beside her like a little dog.

The seat was always saved for someone like Ms. Virginia Angus or Miss Anne Dominic, but the funny thing was they never came.

So Rachel was used to it.

Holly sat up, finally noticing her, and switched on Netflix. "Watch whatever you want, darling. This is your night."

Rachel was shocked, but she knew she needed to keep her eyes open. She knew for a fact that her mother liked what she wanted, whenever she wanted.

"Um, okay." Rachel scrolls through the channels and finds something she wants. "How about this? It's an indie movie that's just been released."

Holly wrinkles her nose in disgust. "Uh, no thank you."

Yup, there it was. The 'Kind but That's Not What I Want So Change It Now Before I Take It Away From You' side.

Rachel sucks in a breath. "Okay, then. How about this?" The Dare child rotates the digital finger around the TARDIS that labels that show as Doctor Who.

Holly responds immediately. "Sci-Fi? Really? No. Let Mommy choose. Why don't you go make us some popcorn?"

The patronizing tone of her voice marked Holly as not budging, so the Oracle trudges to the kitchen and begins to pop popcorn in the cheapie Walmart microwave and she listens to her mother scroll through the movies and shows.

Maybe she'll choose something she thinks Rachel might like?

Oh, what is she thinking? This is Holly Noelle Dare here. The lady who likes to buy love. And fur.

The microwave beeps, and Rachel takes the steaming bag out of it and separates it into two separate bowls.

She arms herself with the popped corn and walks into the living room to find her mother already watching… Oh my gods, is that _13 Going on 30?_

Thanks mom.

Rachel hands Holly the popcorn, which she chews like she's judging the lasagna of Mario Batalli.

"Is this… Organic?!" Holly has her nose once again wrinkles in disgust.

"No, it's just the only popcorn I could find in Trader Joe's without fat." Rachel responds nonchalantly, but she was smirking on the inside.

Holly's mouth drops at the words Trader Joe's and she hands the popcorn bowl back to Rachel.

"No thank you." Rachel thought that would've been polite if Holly's expression hadn't been completely and utterly repulsed.

"More for me!" Rachel Elizabeth Dare says as she throws two kernels into her mouth.

The movie was completely boring to the ginger. Too much romance. Yes, she's getting married, but she has a right to be sappy. Romance is not watching Jennifer Garner be betrayed by her friends and fall in 'love'.

Holly seemed perfectly engrossed, or so Rachel thought until she hears a slight snort from behind her.

Holly Noelle Dare is fast asleep.

So much for sleeping bags.

Rachel pads her way to her bedroom, switches on her stereo to a low volume, and stares at the dark ceiling, The Civil Wars filling the silence.

She was about to fall asleep when two faces popped into her head. Two girls.

And it wasn't just random. No, they wouldn't go away. They were teasing her, haunting her, daring her to tell them to go away.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare smirks and slides out of bed, unwrapping two blank easels and uncapping her paints.

Time to be defeated, mystery girls.

…..

They take about one hour each.

The two girls' take up each of their pages, and Rachel smiles at them. Guess who just won.

She examines them, thinking that they were missing something. This was weird. Nothing like this had happened for months. Must be a wedding prophecy or something.

The oldest girl had an angular face with sharp features and almost seemed to be smirking at her. She had wild, frizzy strawberry blonde hair and sharp green eyes. There was a splattering of freckles on her face.

Strawberry Blonde steps forward in her mind and murmurs, "My name is Laura Sophia." And at that, she disappears into smoke.

In her messy shorthand, the Oracle scribbles _Laura Sophia _and then turns to the other easel.

The younger girl had wavy rust colored hair and sharp blue eyes. Her face was blemish free, no zits, no freckles, no nothing. She had a heart shaped face and a straight nose. Her eyes were large and almond shaped. Where had she seen that expression before?

Ginger glides toward her. "I am Alice Charlotte. I'll see you later-" Alice was cut short by a strand of smoke that made her fade into blackness.

Rachel Elizabeth was about to finish the E in Charlotte when the door creaked.

Holly smiles through the door crack and dances around the paint supplies to sit by Rachel on the bed. "I never knew you could paint so well."

Rachel was done with this mother-daughter-bonding-night gone wrong. "Yeah, guess you didn't."

"Just wanted to say good night." Holly murmurs and pats Rachel's head like a puppy.

And with that, Holly Noelle walks out the door. No sign of affection, no 'Sleep Well', not even a kiss on the forehead.

Oh well. That's the only mom Rachel has so she oughta take it.

Rachel crawls under the covers and falls fast asleep.

….

Annabeth Chase and Piper McLean creep up the metal staircase to Rachel's fifth floor apartment.

They grin at each other and dig through the duffel bag that Annabeth's carrying to find the spare key that had swiped from the shelf above Rachel's door.

The door unlocks easily and the two girls tiptoe in their sweatpants and button downs right inside, hanging the key in its rightful place.

Piper gasps softly, and Annabeth turns around hand sneaking to her inside pocket where her dagger was held.

"What?" Annabeth murmurs.

"Uh, there's a lady… on the couch…" Piper mutters.

"Oh that's Rache-" The daughter of Athena is interrupted by the blonde lady who was previously sleeping on the couch.

"What do you girls think you're doing here? To scare a woman out of her wits while she was sleeping? What kind of imbeciles do you think you are?" Holly Dare shouts, but the demigoddesses stand their ground.

"Ma'am, we're here to pick up Rachel to get ready for the wedding preparations." Piper says, adding a slight bit of charmspeak, but Holly is unfazed.

"David Mallet is on his way from England, girls! Now go back home and come back later. I need my privacy." Holly practically shrieks.

Rachel jogs out her door, glaring daggers at her mother's head.

"Mom, what the Hades do you think you're doing?" Rachel yells.

"Darling, it's heck not Hades. And do not speak to me that way!" Holly scolds.

"These are my bridesmaid, Mother! And we already have a reservation with a small, cheap but good hair salon in Washington Heights. We have an eight-thirty reservation and it's seven forty-five." Rachel rolls her eyes, and her mother gives her an icy stare.

"Don't you want David Mallet?"

"No thank you Mother." Rachel says, trying to cover up her exasperation.

"All right then. I will get my bag. Pull the car up to the front of the complex." Holly snarks, nose high.

The three girls walk through the halls and down the elevator. "So… That's the mom you tell us about, right?" Annabeth starts.

"Yeah, sadly." Rachel mumbles.

"But didn't you say that you didn't like her?" Piper wonders.

"Yeah."

"But why-"

"She wanted to 'surprise' me. She had the best intentions, really. But Holly just couldn't stop being herself." Rachel mutters.

"At least she tried, Rachel." Annabeth smiles at the Oracle.

"Yeah. Just not that hard." Rachel says, and the girls begin trekking toward the garage.

….

About a block from the garage, Rachel decides to tell the girls about the wedding prophecy.

"So last night, I had this dream-" Rachel starts.

"Oh, here we go again." Annabeth groans.

"Shut up, Owl Head. Anyway, so these two girls came up to me and starting… taunting me, I guess. So I did what I did best; I got up and started drawing them."

"That's… Very Oracle-y." Piper says.

But Annabeth had other thoughts. "And what did these girls look like?"

"Well, there was a Strawberry Blonde with green eyes and a ginger with blue eyes. I'll show you the paintings later, it was so weird." Rachel said, eyes to the sky, wondering what Alice was going to say to her.

That was all Annabeth needed to know.

These were Rachel's kids. How could it be? Wasn't Rachel a maiden forever?

….

The three girls piled in the Ford, Annabeth driving, Rachel shotgun, and Piper in the back. Default by Django Django blared from the college radio station, and the girls tried their best to sing along with the techno sounds.

About a minute later, they arrive in front of the apartment complex, and Holly stands on the steps, hand on hip.

"What took you darlings so long?" Holly demands, hefting bags in her arms.

"Sorry, you know, the garage is five blocks away." Rachel turns around in her seat.

"Excuses, excuses…" Holly Noelle trills, and rolls her eyes. "So where is this place again?"

"Washington Heights." Piper states, sharing a look with Rachel.

Holly Dare wrinkles her nose and shivers. "You mean the place with all the bodegas?"

"Mom, Manhattan has loads of bodegas." Rachel snaps.

"Honey, I live on the good side of town." Holly says condescendingly, and Rachel decides to let the comment slide. She loves her and Octavian's small apartment. Holly can't change that.

"Dears, what are you listening to? This is horrendous. Please change a different station." Holly Dare whines, sounding like a little girl and leaning over the seats to get the radio.

Of course when Daft Punk came on Holly had to complain.

But Holly was not Annabeth's mother.

"Excuse me, this happens to be Rachel's wedding day and Rachel's favorite song. It's my car and I think Rachel should get to choose what we listen to." The daughter of Athena snarls, done with Holly's antics.

"If you're not going to respect your elders, than I would ask you let me out of here right now." Holly says, head high.

"Okay then." Annabeth swerves sharply and pulls over. "Ready to go?"

Holly has obviously never been contradicted to this extent because she flushes. "Uh…"

"Do you know the address?" Piper asks, innocently.

"Well…" Holly stammers.

"I thought so. Just let Rachel be Rachel today, alright?" Annabeth finalizes, and makes a U-Turn.

….

Rachel was dozing off in the middle of a Shins song when she was suddenly wide awake.

"I forgot the dress." Rachel begins to hyperventilate. "I forgot my own wedding dress."

Holly stiffly pats her shoulder. "Oh you're fine, darling. I have it right here."

That's surprising. Holly actually cares for once.

"Uh, thanks Mother." Rachel mumbles and reaches for the black bag. She unzips it, just to rub her hand over the lace just once when she feels a different surface.

Silk.

"Mother?!" Rachel is about to explode.

"Yes dear?" Holly murmurs, looking in disgust at the homeless people and bodegas as they were getting closer and closer to Washington Heights.

"You brought the dress you wanted. You didn't take my dress, you took yours." Rachel says, suddenly eerily calm.

"I thought this would look fantastic on you." Holly says, giving her a patronizing grin.

"My dress would look fantastic on me." Rachel's voice starts to rise again.

"And that's why we arranged to get ready at home. Just in case something like that would happen." Piper interrupts, smirking.

Holly's mouth curls into a straight line, knowing she's been defeated.

…..

Minutes later, they arrive at the salon. Holly steps out of the car and briskly walks inside claiming, 'I need to get a taste of this establishment.'

The girls roll their eyes at Holly Noelle Dare, and they slowly walk inside. "Remember guys, the rest of my bridesmaids besides Katie can't see through the mist, so act normal."

"Us, act normal? Okay, we'll see." Piper cracks, and the other girls snort with laughter.

The salon is a one-story building, with white, cracking wood and nearly broken sign saying, 'Salon'.

"I can see why you like this place." Annabeth says as they walk through the doors.

It's small, and classy with a modern feel to it. You'd never think that the run-down salon would be so contemporary on the outside. There was a small waiting area, as there was eight bridesmaids, and a basket of breakfast in the corner of the actual salon area.

Holly was chatting up a storm with the clerk, and the moment she sees the girls she runs to them, pumps clicking on the glossy hardwood floors. "Darlings! Diana here says I can have my hair done too, since I was technically a member of the bridal party! Isn't that fabulous!"

Since when did she ever refer to herself as a member of the bridal party?

A chorus of haphazard, "Yeah, cool," echoes through the three girls, each looking awkward.

Diana, the clerk, steps forward and in an overly perky way says, "Hello, Dare-Davis Wedding Party! I'm Diana, the owner of this store. Rachel, your hairstyle will probably take the longest, so please go with our best hairstylist, Emily. Annabeth, as the maid of honor, you will be last so you can finish with you Rachel. And Piper, please go with Jane. When Katherine gets here, will you tell her to go ahead and start with Florence? Thanks, girls. Oh yes, and Holly, you can go with Irene." Diana flashes a too white grin and bounces away.

"Okay then," Piper mumbles under her breath and heads to Jane, the girl with the straight brown hair and bored brown eyes.

Holly wraps an uncomfortable arm around Rachel, steering her away. Rachel turns around, red hair flipping her mom in the face, and makes a face at Annabeth and Piper, the daughter of Athena looking empathetic and the daughter of Aphrodite already surrounded in a cloud of hair care chemical. Rachel internally winces.

Holly practically shoves Rachel in the uncomfortable salon chair and scurries off to find Irene.

Emily, the New York stylist with the dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes begins to chat. "This'll be fun! So, who's ya husband. Tell me 'bout ya family, friends, gossip, whatevah you want. That's what I'm heyah for."

Rachel smiles. This might not be some bad. Except for the fact that she has to sensor herself. But otherwise…

….

Katie Gardner-Stoll is about to die of annoyance, sitting in the car with five girls who are chatting about… Fur protests?

She exhales as she curves the Chevrolet into the parking lot of a run-down salon, and the moment the daughter of Demeter unlocks the car doors, the rest of the bridesmaids go pouring.

How come she got the job to pick up all the other bridesmaids while Annabeth and Piper got to go pick up Rachel?

Ah, who cares?

She turns the bronze knob on the door slowly, watching the ring on her left hand shimmer in the morning sunlight. Katie snaps out of her daze and walks into the lobby.

She is immediately ushered into the salon chair, and even the heels of her cream high tops couldn't stop the stylists from moving her.

"Can't I say he-"Katie protests, but the owner Diana frowns at her.

"We have a schedule to keep here." And with that, the owner walks away.

Her hair-stylist, the pretty African-American girl with the wild black hair in a ponytail, Florence starts to take a straightener out of the drawer and Katie's sharp green eyes narrow.

"Oh no, you're not. Nobody touches my curls."

….

Even though it looks like she's reading _Geektastic_, Annabeth's actually observing each of the mortal bridesmaids.

There was Lucy Delson, the brunette with the icy gray-blue eyes. She seemed pretty down-to-Earth, always going and getting food or books for the other bridesmaids, visiting Rachel every fifteen minutes, just simply sweet. Annabeth decides that she likes her.

Secondly was Mary Farre, the girl with the wavy light brown hair and eyes to match. She was quiet, and slightly separate from the rest of the girls. Annabeth felt bad for her, but there was a slight aura of superiority around her that stopped the daughter of Athena from going over to her.

Olivia Patricia Hart, the Latina girl with the curly brown hair. She was the clown of the group, always joking around, but didn't have the cloud of sadness in her eyes that a lot of other hysterical people have. She just enjoyed being funny.

There was Ruth Balzary, the Middle Eastern girl with the chocolate brown hair. She looks simply bored, wanting to be somewhere else, constantly checking her nails or her phone. Annabeth wanted to go over and shake her shoulders, tell her that this was a wedding! But Annabeth was the one hiding behind a book, so she couldn't talk.

Lastly, there was Susannah Slovak, the girl with the curly black hair and dark eyes who laughed at everything, but really seemed distant. Annabeth realizes that she was holding a book under the table and reading it. Annabeth made a note to talk to her later.

The daughter of Athena realizes that she is just as bad as some of them, puts the book down, and joins the conversation.

….

Soon enough, the hair time is over and the girls go to their respective cars to drive to Rachel's apartment.

Holly, however, needed to go see Walter at their penthouse so they could drive to the ceremony together, so she hailed her own limo and drove home alone.

Meanwhile, Rachel, Piper, and Annabeth pile into the Ford.

"Oh, thank the gods." Rachel moans, laying down on the backseat.

"Don't ruin your hair, or your mother will be murderous." Piper advises from the front seat, and Rachel glares at Piper and sits up.

"Don't talk about my mother. Seriously." Rachel growls.

"At least your mom talks to you." Annabeth mutters as she makes a left-hand turn.

"Ditto." Piper echoes.

"True. But my mom doesn't even try." Rachel complains.

"Who said she had to spend that free favor from Versace on you? Who said she had to spend last night at all with you? I'm not saying that Holly's right, but I mean that you can't say that she didn't even make effort. She acted like herself, but Holly tried a little bit." Annabeth says.

"I think what we mean is that trying and then acting the way Holly does is better than not trying at all." Piper translates and then smiles weakly.

"I guess you're right. Sorry, guys, I was being insensitive." Rachel put her head into her hands, a red curl falling beside her face.

Oh, Holly. You are so confusing.

….

When they arrived at the apartment, the rest of the bridesmaids were already there, sitting against the doorframe, nibbling on bagels they'd stolen from the salon and chit-chatting about government funding.

The Oracle of Delphi steps forward and unlocks the door, watching the girls slide through the thin area the open door provides.

They flop on the couch and on the floor like this was their own home, and Rachel smiles. This was the kind of wedding she'd always wanted.

"Ladies!" Rachel cups her hands over her mouth. "I'll let you put on Princess Kuzco if you all get into your dresses!"

The girls run in to the closet as Rachel turns on the small television and switches to _The Emperor's New Groove_, the single most epic Disney Princess movie ever.

The sound of zips fill the air and flashes of red are seen from the corner of eyes as the girls quickly slip into their bridesmaid's gowns.

They were short and strapless, in a shocking red color. The bottoms were airy, so it looks like they are walking through fire.

Rachel puts her hands over her mouth in shock.

It looks exactly like she's wanted since she was five.

"Rach, we love you, but stop staring at us. We don't look that good!" Susannah cracks, but Rachel just kinda stands there for a minute.

It was her turn now.

She was going to get in her wedding dress.

She's going to marry Octavian.

She's going to be a Davis.

She marrying the guy that most of her best friends hate.

The only reason they're in the wedding party is because of her.

Oh my gods, what is she doing?

"Oh crud. She's having doubts. I can just tell." Ruth blurts and rushes to her side. "Sweetie, no. You love Octavian, remember?" She motions for the other to come over.

"Remember how he really, really, creepy before he met you?" Piper says to Rachel.

"Oh thanks then." Rachel mutters.

"But then he got a crush on you, and he turned the Romans around? But he came back to you?" Annabeth murmurs to Rachel, knowing her own hatred of Octavian, but how much Rachel loves him.

"He flew all the way from Camp Jupiter to take you to Prom? That he was always kind of nicer around you, and was nicer to others after you started dating?" Katie looks right at Rachel, praying there would be no more doubts.

"Yeah, I do remember." Rachel has a soft smile on her face and she straightens her spine and asks, "So where's that lucky black bag?"

The bridesmaids explode into cheers as they raid the small room for one more black bag.

….

After a few minutes, Lucy finds the last black bag and raises it up high like a trophy. "Found it!"

Olivia rushes forward, neurotically pushing down the zipper until it went all the way down and delicately takes the dress out of it's bag.

"Here you go…" Liv mutters, handing the dress to Piper and Annabeth, who help Rachel into the dress.

The bridesmaids' eyes widen, and Rachel walks to her room to look at herself in a full length mirror.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare saw a girl with fiery red hair pinned into a low, elegantly messy, up-do and sharp emerald eyes. She was wearing a lacy, ruffle-y cream colored dress that goes down to mid-thigh.

This was Rachel Dare Davis, not Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

And she was perfectly fine with that.

….

The bridal party had just walked out the front of the apartment when a limousine pulls up in front of the complex.

"Get in, darlings." Holly Noelle Dare trills from the open window. The bridesmaids shuffle inside the luxury car until Rachel is the only one left.

"Sweetie, what in God's name are you wearing?" Holly exclaims, taking in everything that Rachel was wearing.

"Uh, my wedding dress." Rachel says bluntly, mentally smirking.

"No, darling, that is not a wedding dress. That is a communion dress." Holly says flatly, giving the oracle a once over. "Okay, get in the car, darling. I knew something like this would happen."

Rachel's emerald eyes harden. "Excuse me? What the Hades is that supposed to mean?"

Holly rolls her eyes and smirks condescendingly at her daughter. "First of all, it's heck. Not Hades. And secondly, darling, you are not immature to make these decisions on your own. This-"The blonde swipes her hand over Rachel's appearance. "-Is just proof of my prior statement. Now I still have that Versace, so get in the car, and we will get you prettied up. Alright darling?"

"I've been through more than you ever will, Mother. I'm so sorry that you had to chip a perfectly French-Manicured nail to 'help' me make this wedding a success. Sometimes, I swear that you're worse than Hera." Rachel spits, and her mother is taken aback, at being scolded by a daughter who was thought to be submissive.

Rachel continues, orange lipstick shining. "Now, I have just decided that I will walk to MOMA. Who's with me?"

One by one, the girls file out of the luxury limousine, some turning around to look wistfully at the nearly empty leather seats.

There were no weird looks about seeing a Bridal party walking down the streets of Manhattan. This was New York, after all. There was nothing to be seen that's already been seen.

Finally, after minutes after awkward small-talk clouded by the fierce confrontation between mother and daughter, the bridesmaids arrive at MOMA, and head to the Greco-Roman exhibits where the ceremony will be held.

Holly leans against a pure white pillar, overly puffed lips curled into a straight line, blue eyes icy. She juts a thin arm out and drags Rachel to her side.

"Take off that dress. _Now._" Holly warns, wrinkle-free face beginning to turn maroon.

Rachel shrugs. "Nah."

"If you don't take that dress off, I won't walk you down the aisle. I don't want the press to think my daughter is a naïveté wild child. Why are you embarrassing me like this?" Holly's bleach white teeth have a thick coat of saliva layered on top of them. "Don't-"

"She doesn't want to take off the dress, so she doesn't have to. Personally, I think she looks striking." A voice interrupts from the echoes of the hallway.

A face-splitting grin cuts it's way across Rachel's face. Her favorite person in the entire universe is finally here.

Holly's face gets even redder, which Rachel didn't even think was possible. "Who do you think you are? Cutting into a personal conversation with my daughter."

Rachel turns around, and greets Octavian with a flying tackle hug. "I missed you." She whispers.

"Ditto," He responds, and he begins to smirk. "Can I handle this?"

"Oh, please do." Rachel laughs.

"I would appreciate an answer." Holly snarls from the pillar.

"I'm Octavian. Not that you would know. I would suggest that you would back off of Rachel. My friends can make this wedding miserable for you. _I _could make this wedding _horrifying _for you. I'm sick of seeing me future wife devastated because of something you did. So be nice." Octavian hisses, eerily smooth, in his old method of manipulation.

Octavian Davis almost missed that method.

Almost.

"You are two fools. Absolute fools. You are out of my will! And I am obviously not welcome at this wedding, so I will spend time with my dear Victoria Ashling, whom I canceled dinner with because of this occasion. Have a nice life, darling."

With that, Holly's platinum hair flips around her head and the sound of clacking platforms fills the halls.

"Thank you," Rachel hugs Octavian again.

Her fiancée kisses the top of her head, and starts to jog away. "The guys are gonna get suspicious. I'll see you in ten, Rach!"

Rachel Dare Davis smiles, dumbfounded.

This was a match made in Olympus.

….

Rachel stands in line, slightly twitchy, staring at the stiff black jackets and blood red dresses in front of her. She's going to walk herself down the aisle. No big deal. Katie did it. Lou did it. Nothing much.

No big deal.

It'll all b-

A tap on her shoulder interrupts her panicked thoughts.

"Hey, hey Rachel. You're alive, right?"

Percy is standing next to her, shaking his head.

"Nervous. I'm going to trip, I guarantee it." Rachel mutters, staring at her netted hands.

"Then I'm going to trip with you." Percy exclaims.

"Well, yeah you will. You're Percy." Rachel says, matter-of-factly.

The son of Poseidon rolls his eyes in response. "Thanks, RED. Love you too. I meant that, if it was, like, okay with you and everything," Percy begins to stumble over his words. "I could, maybe, walk you down the aisle since your folks are flakes?"

"Oh, Percy," Rachel feels her face heating up. "You are freaking amazing, do you know that?"

"Yeah, I guess I've heard that before."

"Shut up, Jackson."

"Gladly, Dare-Oh, sorry, Davis."

So Rachel Elizabeth Dare walks down the aisle holding one of her best friend's arm, staring into the aisle of a blond man, with giddy blue eyes, happier than she'd ever seen them. He probably saw the same thing.

….

_Epilogue: Ruth and her People-Watching_

Ruth Balzary sits awkwardly on the green gingham tablecloth, staring at those weird people.

The Jordanian girl is currently at Rachel's wedding reception, bored out of her freaking mind. Those strange six or seven people were hogging her best friend's attention.

At least Ruth thought Rachel was her best friend, even though she wasn't the maid of honor.

It was kind of obvious that Katie, Piper, and what was her name? Annabelle? Well, all Ruth knew that she had been demoted to fourth-best.

Percy, the dude who walked Rachel down the aisle, and Jason, the really hot blonde guy were occupying themselves by putting chunks of vegan steak and wedding cake in each other's hair.

Ruth smirked as Piper and Annabeth broke up the food fight, scolding the guys like a mother would scold her children. But that opinion soon changed as she saw Percy gave Annabeth a frosting covered kiss, and Jason sweep Piper into his steak marinade stained arms and twirl her to the dance floor.

Ruth sighs. So much for the blonde hottie.

So the bridesmaid keeps her eyes on the bride and groom, huddled in the shadow of a massive tree, in their own little bubble.

Ruth exhales again, grabbing Jacob Park's hand. This was going to be tonight's dance partner.

After all, he could be the Octavian to her Rachel.

_How'd ya like?_


	5. The Grace Wedding

_GTG TO BED SRY GUYS I CAN'T DO DEDICATIONS BUT I DID READ REVIEWS THANK YOU LOVE YOU ALL K THX BAI_

"My own mother who happens to be the goddess of love probably doesn't even know I'm getting married and the goddess of marriage hates my guts. This is a recipe for wedding Hades." Piper groans and drops her head into her hands.

"You and Jason are heroes of Olympus. I have a feeling that the gods will take a break on their psychoness." Thalia says from the corner, wrapping a white polka-dotted robe over her black long-sleeved tee and rubbing the legs of black cotton pants. She was the only person Piper had ever met that was cold during the summer.

You may think that it was awkward for the whole wedding party to have a random fifteen year-old in the mix, but she was mentally thirty or so. I didn't matter. There were bigger things on Piper's mind than her fiancée's sister's age.

"Still. The gods can be… Weird." Piper was wearing a simple pink tank top and checkered pants, against her friends' protests to wear something new. It was good luck, but when had good luck charms worked for any demigod?

"Well, duh. You can say that again. But I don't think that they would let Hera crash your wedding. My wedding? Hera'll be there no matter what." Annabeth was in the middle of putting her curly blonde hair in a ponytail. Her grey eyes narrow at the mention of her least favorite goddess.

"I think we all know that Aphrodite knows that her daughters getting married, first of all. That being, Aphrodite will murder whoever messes with her Jasper." Rachel sits, calmly, green eyes glowing like whenever she thinks about the gods. Rachel had her copper-patterned pants on, from her Himalayan expedition with Octavian.

Piper should calm down. Nothing could be worse than when Rachel asked for permission for marriage from the gods. That was… horrifying.

"Jasper?" Katie bursts into giggles. "Do the gods even use ship names? 'How's Tratie doing? Octachel?' To be honest, this is the best thought ever."

"I think we should all change the subject. Who's with me?" Hazel starts.

"Me." Piper raises her hand quickly.

"Beauty Queen-" Reyna says, and is interrupted by Piper.

"Sometimes I think the boys have rubbed off on you too much."

The daughter of Bellona rolls her eyes in response and continues. "You have yet to show us your dress."

Piper McLean (soon to be Grace) would have loved to have her best friends with her when she picked out her wedding dress, but she had a feeling if there was that much demigod energy in a mortal place, Aphrodite would find out and… Well, all Piper was sure of was that she would be in a Cinderella ball gown free of cost by the end of the day.

So Piper went with Leo, who was the weirdest person to go dress shopping with. Every dress that the lady picked out was 'Dude, you look like a floating Piper marshmallow,' or 'That's a bit… tight, isn't it?' or even 'Sorry, Pipes, but that is ugly, even by my standards.'

Even so, it was fun to go with one of her best friends. After about five hours of shopping and Leo almost dropping a fire bomb in the middle of a stack of dresses, they both agreed on one dress.

Which Piper happens to be getting out of her cramped garage closet.

She lugs the big black bag over her left shoulder and slams her way through the heavy door. Demigod training is not just for monsters.

In a huff, she plops the bag on the space cleared off of the sectional especially for it. Piper delicately unzips the black bag and pulls out a long white dress.

The seven girls immediately scoot a little closer, wanting to see every detail.

It was A-Line, much like that dress Aphrodite had magically made her wear when Piper was being claimed. There were a small bit of sparkle around the waist, but otherwise it was simple, and went down straight.

"Wow, Piper. This is beautiful. It'll be perfect." Hazel murmurs, staring at the silky white fabric.

"You said Leo helped you choose this? You're sure it wasn't Mitchell or Will, right?" Annabeth mutters, looking at Piper in shock.

"Well, actually the saleslady found it, but Leo helped pick out stuff leading up to this dress." Piper smiles, proud of her friend.

"Okay, someone hand me the phone. He's my new stylist." Katie says.

A few minutes later, Piper begins to wrap up the dress, claiming 'There's food. Not that I have a problem with food, but not with my wedding dress.'

She trudges back to the garage, and she prays to the gods that there will be no freak accident with the water heater and the stain of the black bag will leave spots on it or that it won't be ripped to shreds by some crazy monster who wants revenge on her and Jason.

There a lot of those types of monsters, so it's not a ridiculous wish.

Piper walks back to the main room, slightly entranced by the smell of, what? Is that grease?

She finds her bridesmaids huddled around an iPad and Thalia huddled in the corner.

"Uh, Thals? Are you okay?" Piper asks.

Thalia raises her head, and the daughter of Aphrodite discovers that she is chewing.

"Yeah. Why?" The daughter of Zeus's electric blue eyes are big, and slightly confused.

"Why are you sitting in a corner?" Most of the time, Thalia and Jason are polar opposites, but there are times (like right now, for instance) that they could be twins they act so similar.

"They were trying to steal my cheeseburger. And they said that Gorillaz aren't suitable for the night before marriage." Thalia says, like this is a completely normal conversation.

"Okay, one last question. Where'd you get the cheeseburger?" Piper was absolutely positive she was only in the garage for two minutes, and Thalia wouldn't even fly, much less have super-speed.

"Before I got here, I went to Burger King and got a Whopper, well, actually, I got about three of them since Artemis doesn't like fast-food. I put them in your fridge, and I just put one in your microwave. Now may I please eat my burger in peace?"

"Piper, come over here! You have to see this!" Hazel calls from the couch, her amber eyes on something.

Piper thanks the gods, saved from a really awkward exit.

"What's going on?"

"You didn't tell us you had a photo album." Reyna smiles (slightly mischievously) and flips over a plastic covered sheet.

"That's because I don't have a photo album." Piper mutters, confused. Did Jason have a photo album?

Oh, Piper McLean. You are so stupid. She would have noticed if Jason had a photo album on their coffee table. They'd lived in this house for two years.

"Hate to say it, Pipes, but you do. It's right here." Rachel points to the brown leather book, and Piper sits down, opening it right back up.

"These are pictures of me and Jason, and only me and Jason." Piper's eyes widen. "Okay, now I'm creeped out. I didn't have my camera on me at these restaurants and zoos and… Is that when we first met, after his memory wipe?"

"You're kidding." Annabeth mumbles, blonde curls slipping out of her ponytail as she looks at the pictures.

"What?" Piper's head snaps up. "If Hera's behind this I will go to Olympus myself and smack her motherly face so hard-"

"Let's not curse Hera if we're not exactly sure she's behind it. I don't think she likes any of us." Hazel murmurs, putting three claws over her heart.

"Don't mean to make this worse or anything, but all I can see is pictures from the strawberry fields." Katie says, wriggling her brows.

"I can see the street festivals of Camp Jupiter." Reyna chimes in, slightly wistful.

The rest of the bridal party brings up their answers, and Annabeth and Piper lock eyes. They know what this is all about.

"This is my mother's fault, you know." Piper says, crossing her arms and glaring at the ceiling as if Aphrodite could see her.

_"_Let me get this straight, I do not see anyone I have romantic feelings for. I see my cousins and my brother and my best friends and the huntresses, but let me clarify, _there are no mysterious lovers in this photo album._" Thalia snaps, glaring at the bridesmaids as if they would protest against it.

"We're not saying you do, Thalia." It was obvious to people who knew Reyna that she was about to lose her temper, but her face was steely calm.

Thalia and Reyna do not each other, at all, whatsoever. Reyna will keep her feelings to herself with people she doesn't really know whereas Thalia doesn't give a flying gorgon whether or not you know her or was just passing by her on the sidewalk she will let you know precisely what you did wrong and give you a verbal (or occasionally physical) beating worthy of a belt.

So they clash.

The two avoid each other, but every train track has to intersect somewhere, right?

Now was one of those times.

"I would suggest you shut your face, Miss Roma. You can't speak for the rest of the girls, so I wouldn't speak at all." Thalia snarls, and Reyna raises her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, Miss _Grace. _I'll just bow down to the queen now. At least when people call me a queen, I know my empire is a democracy, not a tyranny." Reyna responds coldly, but her voice hasn't raised an octave.

"Oh, you slimy little _Romaikos. _You don't know who you're talking to. So how about you just stick your-" Thalia's pale skin is sparking, bouncing off MGMT and Vampire Weekend pins on her robe.

Annabeth and Piper stand between Reyna and Thalia, like they'd done many times before with Percy and Jason. At least they were best friends.

"How about we stick our feet in our mouths and go sit down peacefully." Reyna already has given Annabeth a mini salute and has sat down on the sectional, but Thalia is boring her eyes into the back of the Praetor of the Twelfth Legion's head. Annabeth's grey eyes went stormy as she looked at Thalia. "Thals? I love you, but you're really pissing me off. Act like the thirty-something you are."

The daughter of Zeus glares lightly at the daughter of Athena, and grumbles her way to the couch, on the far opposite side of Reyna.

The daughter of Bellona looks to her, and her eyes twinkle victoriously. Thalia could practically read her mind, and she was saying, _Very mature._

Thalia growls and lunges, and noticing this, Rachel grabs her arms, and starts a new conversation. "So, Piper, what were you saying about Aphrodite and the photo album?"

"I was thinking that my mother might be the goddess of romantic love, but also love itself. Friendship love, family love, any kind of love is her specialty. So the album displays people and things you love." Piper smiles, rubbing her finger over the jagged skin of the leather.

"Pipes, it's a wedding gift." Hazel says quietly, staring at the book.

"Yeah. I guess so." The demigoddess looks at the old album with newfound affection. Aphrodite knew about her marriage to Jason. She obviously approved of it. And she didn't come and crash the affair, make herself the star of the show like Piper thought she would.

Aphrodite actually cared. And that meant the world to her.

….

The eight girls were a weird mix, covered in random colored blankets, and eating greasy pieces of pizza off of flimsy paper plates. Rachel was holding two empty, cheese stained boxes on her legs, and Hazel was holding a bottle of Mountain Dew like a baby.

"Do you realize how crazy this is?" Annabeth murmurs from her spot on the sectional.

"What are you talking about?" Piper responds, words muffed by cheese, bread, and gravy.

"Didn't it seem like yesterday that we were on the Argo II, worrying about saving the world?"

"It's all going by so fast. It's kind of ridiculous. It feels like we were just off to boat, taking the rest of the summer off." Hazel mumbles, almost to herself. "Now our Piper is getting married."

"Oh my gods, guys. You're gonna make me cry. But if our little group hasn't broken up, I don't think it ever will." Piper puts down her slice and looks into her friends' eyes, lucky.

Piper doesn't use that word too often, as you probably already know.

But to have these girls love her like they do? That's a blessing from the gods.

….

The seven girls fall asleep, entangled, on the huge sectional that they'd spent the whole night on, Metric blaring softly from old Beats speakers in the corners.

Piper slept surprisingly well for a girl as nervous as she is.

Well, the daughter of Aphrodite wouldn't necessarily define herself as nervous. There might be some monster attacks, but nothing they can't handle.

And no, she's not nervous about Jason. She's the daughter of the love goddess, she knows when things are meant to be. They'll love each for forever. No matter what.

As they say, couples who prevent an extremely horrifying and deadly Earth goddess from rising and defend the Greek camp against Romans thirsty for blood stay together.

The weirdest part of the day was yet to come, though.

Piper had a wonderful, dreamless night. (There was a dancing unicorn, but Piper wasn't sure if that was or was not a dream,) and was supposed to wake up at eight to prepare for an eleven o'clock wedding.

That did not go as planned.

There was a light shake on her forearm and Piper sprang awake, reaching quickly under the couch cushion for her old dagger.

But when Piper turned, she did not see a monster.

There was a woman with long, silky black hair, tan Native American skin, and kaleidoscope eyes.

"Mom?" Piper's voice rises subconsciously, and Aphrodite gives a breathtaking smile.

"Well, yes, that's going to be my name for the rest of the day. I will be known as your mother, not the love goddess. After all, my favorite daughter is getting married today!" Aphrodite squeals happily, and Piper is still confused. Questions bombard the walls of her skull.

"I'm honored that you're here, but I didn't know you were coming. That's why I look really, really, shocked." Piper felt the useless need to explain herself, but her mother just gives a tinkling laugh brushes off spotless denim jeans.

"Come on, Pipes. It's five o'clock, only six hours till you get married!" Aphrodite claps her hands and rushes to Piper's kitchen. "We have to have breakfast!"

Piper grins widely, dumbfounded. This is the best day ever. "You know, there's granola bars in the pantry, if you want them."

Aphrodite wheels around and stares at her daughter blankly. "Do you really think that I was going to make you have a _granola bar _for breakfast on your wedding day?"

"Aren't you all about like, health and supermodel diets and stuff? Thought you'd think that I wouldn't fit in my wedding dress or something." Piper mumbles, suddenly embarrassed.

"Honey, starving yourself the day before your wedding is worse than overeating. You'll pass out. Plus, I want to take advantage of my momvantages." Aphrodite trills and turns to the stove.

"Momvantages?" Piper raised an eyebrow, and Aphrodite grins like it's their little inside joke.

"Mom advantages. Feel free to ask any questions. You have this aura of confusion surrounding you." With that, the love goddess turns back to the stove.

"Um…" Piper's not used to having people read her auras, so she doesn't know how to respond to that. "Okay, so why isn't your appearance changing? Not that I don't like it, it's just all the other times-" Piper was once again interrupted by her mother.

"I was waiting for you to ask that. I was thinking about what I was going to do for your wedding, and I remember searching you out as a child, disguising myself as a stranger, and sensing your parental abandonment. It broke my heart, Pipes, believe me. So I came from Olympus vowing to myself that I would be the best mother I could be in the short day they'd allowed me. And part of that vow was to not overshadow you, and to make you feel like I was normal. This is what I would have looked like if I was your mortal mother." Aphrodite explains. Piper looks down again, unsure of what to say, how to express her feelings.

Her mother put her hand over hers, and Piper finally looks up and mumbles, "Thank you, Mom. This is the best gift a demigod could ask for."

Aphrodite smiles again, breathtaking, and in the back of her mind Piper knew that wasn't caused by her love powers.

The love goddess's eyes widen quickly, and she runs to the stove again, moment over as swiftly as it had begun.

Aphrodite starts to whisk the scrambled eggs, and a shuffling sound comes from the living room. The mother and daughter wince in unison.

Hazel stumbles into the kitchen, looking down, and golden brown curls knotted and wild. "Good morning, Miss Gra-" The daughter of Pluto interrupts herself and executes a rushed bow and a, "Oh, excuse me, Lady Venus. I'm so-"

"Don't worry, dear. Today, I'm just Piper's mother. Treat as you would any of your other friends' mother's." Aphrodite says to Hazel, who's still flustered and twitchy.

"Thank you, La- You know what? I'm going to wake up the rest of the girls." Hazel Levesque all but jogs out the door, but not before mouthing a 'Lucky,' to Piper.

…A few minutes later, Hazel returns to the kitchen with Annabeth in tow, ponytail barely holding her curly hair up anymore.

"The rest of them refused to wake up, so I guess it's just the three of us." Hazel sits on one of the chairs next to Piper at the breakfast bar.

"Just like old times, right?" Annabeth murmurs, trying to keep her frustration down. Aphrodite wasn't precisely her favorite person, but she was happy for Piper. That was a side of the goddess of love that Annabeth didn't think she would ever see.

Aphrodite quickly whips three plates from the cupboard, and Piper wonders who she got those. The goddess of love has never been to her house before.

Has she?

Aphrodite turns from the stove again, and looks to Piper. "Don't get creeped out, daughter. I'm a goddess, finding stuff quickly is one it's perks."

Okay, now Piper is even more weirded out. Her mother can read her mind.

She has to sensor her own thoughts.

Well, there's a con to this whole thing.

But that doesn't matter to Piper. Her mother's here, and acting like a real mother at that, and that makes all the weird cons worthwhile.

…

The three girls of the Seven are finishing up a huge breakfast that tastes fantastic, being made by a goddess who has probably never cooked a real breakfast in her life.

Random chimes, songs, and beeps echo from the living room, and different pitched groans flow to the kitchen.

"The stampede is coming." Piper mumbles, still inhaling her bacon and eggs.

Aphrodite's kaleidoscope eyes (That bore an uncanny resemblance to Piper's) suddenly widen.

"They all know about our world, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. They'll probably be pretty surprised, since goddesses usually don't be cooking breakfast in the kitchen the morning after sleepovers but-"

Piper was interrupted by Rachel, Thalia, Katie, and Reyna walking through the doorway and stopping short.

They all mumble apologies and attempt to bend their drowsy bodies into bows, but Aphrodite gives them a tinkling laugh and brushes them off.

"Dears, don't worry. Sit down, relax, I'm making breakfast." Aphrodite trills, and turns back to the stove, smiling brightly.

"I made all your love lives _so _interesting. Except for you, Thalia." Piper hears her mother sigh, and then turn around with a pout. "I had such big plans for you! But no, you had to join Artemis's little cult and resist the pull of love! Well, you'll have to drop out soon. They will always be more generations of demigods, so they'll be more and chances for you to fall in love-"

"I'm going to ignore that little cult comment, since I'm almost too tired to talk, and it's Piper's wedding, but I'm a huntress. Thank you for planning decades of me being a mankiller, but I'm good. Thanks." Thalia snaps from her seat, and begins to microwave her last cheeseburger.

"Not a morning person, I suppose. But hurry up, ladies, one of my daughters, the minor goddess of cerebrosides, is here to help with hair and make-up." Aphrodite says, and begins to collect the dishes from the table. "Cassandra is in the atrium."

A beautiful girl with wavy auburn hair and big brown doe eyes lounges on the couch, tapping on an iPhone, looking like any other twenty first century twenty-something.

"Oh. The bridesmaids." Cassandra says flatly, and glances at each of the demigoddesses boredly. "So, which of you in the maid of honor? Milady requested to do the bride." Piper's eyes widen. She was overjoyed that her mother was going to be a real mother, but when it comes to Aphrodite and makeovers… Well, that hasn't gone over well in the past. Piper knows from experience.

"Well," Hazel starts. "Piper chose none of us to be the maid of honor. She couldn't choose."

"That's dumb." The goddess of cerebrosides rolls her eyes and grabs Rachel by the wrist, practically dragging her to the couch, where a towel lays.

Cassandra cross-examines the Oracle of Delphi and her Cupid's bow lips turn into a grimace. "Ugh. You don't know how much I hate ginger hair."

"Uh, excuse me?" Rachel snaps, but the minor goddess waves her hand.

"Nothin' against you, just stating a fact." Cassandra whips a large pick from her purse and digs the fingers into Rachel's wild curls.

Meanwhile, Aphrodite strolls out of the kitchen and brings Piper to the bathroom. Sitting her down on the toilet, the goddess of love starts on her hair.

"Oh, Pipes. Why did you sleep on your braid?" Aphrodite moans as she delicately unwinds Piper's French braids, destroying the knots with a touch of her hand.

"Isn't it supposed to make your hair really wavy after you wake up? I've never had a problem with it before." Piper mumbles, head down, voice muffled by her own shirt.

"When you move as much as you do in your sleep, it makes a drastic difference. But anyways, you are lucky you can pull off a braid. Braids weren't in style in my hey-day." Aphrodite begins to twirl her hair effortlessly, lightly tucking it into some sort of do that Piper couldn't identify.

Her mother worked in comfortable silence until she blurts out. "Did I ever tell you I was proud of you?"

"What?" Piper's head jerks up so fast Aphrodite's hand twitches and a shock of agony spreads through her scalp.

"Piper, I'm proud of you." Aphrodite murmurs, kaleidoscope eyes still on Piper's hair. "You've brought dignity to my name. And for that I am eternally grateful."

It takes Piper a minute for her to digest that information and develop a worthy response. (i.e. One that wasn't 'Uh…')

"That was my goal from day one. And there's no need to thank me. After all, I am proud to be your daughter." Piper looks at her mother from under scraps of chocolate brown waves, and sees her smiling bitter sweetly.

"I don't remember the last time one of my children said that to me." Aphrodite whispers, almost to herself.

After a minute of teary atmosphere, Piper watches as the strands of hair are slowly being lifted from her face. "Come see, Pipes."

Standing up, Piper stares at herself in the old mirror.

Her hair was thrown into a ponytail, Greek style, but what caught Piper's eye was the golden brooches on top of all the twists.

Aphrodite must have saw her staring, because she smiles and says "A mix of your heritage. Traditional Greek wedding hair, and golden barrettes from the Cherokee nation."

"That's…perfect." Piper sighs and reaches up to feel her hair, but her mother swats her hand away.

"Don't," Aphrodite warns. "I put a lot of energy into this do."

Piper slowly lowers her hands under the love goddess's sharp glare.

"Now, I wasn't sure what to do about your make-up. So I decided, since you rarely wear make-up, I would just apply some light red gloss. You don't need make up." With that, Aphrodite snaps her fingers and Piper has a small bottle of lip gloss in her hand.

She applies, and there must be some magic in there, as it doesn't taste bitter and sticky, but like the strawberries from the Half-Blood Hill.

"Dashes of Nectar, dear. That's why I gave you such a small bottle." Aphrodite's kaleidoscope eyes gleam, and Piper realizes her mother is much smarter than she looks.

Piper is shaken out of her daze with a loud snap, and in Aphrodite's hands is a large black bag.

With a teenage-like squeal, her mother trills, "It's time!"

….

Piper has no trouble walking out of the bathroom in her wedding dress. The silk fell like water down her legs, and it was as comfortable as her favorite pair of jeans.

At this point Piper McLean (soon to be Grace) realizes the real problem.

The hair was an issue.

It probably weighed like fifteen pounds, and Piper felt like her head was going to tilt and she would fall over.

Aphrodite notices the concentration on Piper's face and laughs. "Pipes, I had to wear a hairdo just like that for a millennia. I think you can last a day."

Off-balance, Piper stumbles into the living room.

The sectional is practically covered in dark pink, and all the girls' hair are curled, laying like waves on the cushions.

"Uh, hi." Piper murmurs, trying to crack her neck without ruining her hairdo, and she hears gasps from around the room.

She expects shouts in the room, like at Katie or Rachel's wedding, but there is complete silence.

Slowly, Piper lifts her head to find her seven bridesmaids gaping.

"You look…Amazing, Piper." Annabeth whispers, and all the other bridesmaids nod, flabbergasted.

"And your hair, how did you get it like that? It looks perfect." Hazel says, amber eyes wide.

"I had help from someone." Piper nods to her mother, who smiles.

"Come on, ladies. It's 10:45, and the wedding starts at 11. You don't want to be late to your own wedding, do you?" Aphrodite exclaims, and Piper's face falls.

"But Long Island is-"

"Being a goddess has its perks, Pipes."

….

The eight girls wobble on the uneven grass, and glancing around, Piper sees her bridesmaids straightening the flowers at the tops of their strapless gowns and her mother squinting her eyes at a pocket mirror and begins to un-wrinkle a figure flattering red dress. Eh, goddess powers.

But the daughter of Aphrodite's attention is soon directed to the small marble altar where a tall blonde man is standing, twitchy.

Piper knows that man well enough to know that he was nervous.

After all, Jason Grace doesn't twitch very easily.

She has to make a physical effort to not move herself, grabbing clumps of jersey with her fists and holding on to it for dear life.

Annabeth gives her a small wink as she pairs up with Percy, and they line up.

Typical wedding. No reason to be nervous.

Right?

Something pries her hand out of her dress, and Piper looks up to see her mother smiling reassuringly. "Don't stretch the fabric, dear. You'll ruin it."

Piper smiles back and realizes something that could ruin her mother's brilliant mortal-for-a-day plan.

"Uh, mom? What about my father?" Piper's grin goes slack, and Aphrodite's beautiful face seems to do the same.

"I guess we didn't think this plan through did we-" Aphrodite says, and is quickly interrupted.

"Natalya Skydove," The voice cracks, and the two turn to see Tristan McLean, pale and hopeful. He begins to grin like a little boy the moment he sees his past lover. "I never thought I'd see you again."

Aphrodite seems speechless for a moment, too, but quickly regains her charm. "It's great to see you, Trist. You look fabulous."

"Yeah, you do, too." Tristan face brightens and he soon notices Piper and brings her in for a bear hug. "I can't believe my little girl is getting married."

"I can't either. I'm glad you made it." Piper says, and her nose fills with the scent of cologne and rented tuxedos. It smelt like, one of her many, home.

"We're going to walk our daughter down the aisle. Our daughter, Natalya. Isn't that unbelievable?" Tristan exclaims, overjoyed.

Piper figured he had a right. After all, his family seemed to be complete.

"It is, isn't it? She's been through so much. She deserves happiness." Aphrodite beams, and Piper wonders if her mother's clouded kaleidoscope eyes being clouded is just a trick of the light.

The reunion conversation ends there, as the two walk her up the hill.

Her best friends are beside her, her parents are together and the only perfect man in the world is standing in front of her, looking at her with eyes like she's the only world he's ever known.

Piper Grace thinks that if going through all the battles of the Greek world lead her to Jason, then it was worth it.

Life is _thavmasios, omorfos. _It might even be _gemati agapi._

….

_Epilogue Part One: Leo's Speech_

The guests of the small wedding are seated on blankets, and those who were in the bridal party have changed into shorts and tee shirts, watching the sun set across the sand and the ocean.

A certain pyrokinetisist decides to disturb the serenity by making an impromptu speech for the groom.

"YO! PEOPLE! I'M TRYING TO MAKE A SPEECH FOR MY MAIN MAN!" Leo shouts across the small strip of beach, and the area quiets down.

Smiling, Leo starts. "I pride myself in your relationship. I'm responsible for this whole thing. I brought you guys together, you know that right?"

"I made myself go through all that romantic stuff to stay best friends with you guys. I brought down all the awkward crush tension. I created Jasper. And you can't stop me from saying that. I will never let you live that down."

"But anyways, I'll keep this short, and leave the embarrassing stories till we're all drunk and can't remember them, so don't think that they're not coming."

"What I'm trying to say is, that a lot of people would be pissed if their two best friends got married, y'know, breaking the walls of the group, or whatever."

"I'm not."

"I'm actually pretty lucky."

"I get to be happy for the two of you as one, instead of you individually. I get to see you guys happier than I've ever seen you, which is the best gift any guy could ask for."

"And I get extra ammunition, but that, my friends, is far from the point."

"I'll cut myself off know, finishing with that fact that your first born child will be named either Leo Jr. or Leonia. Goodnight y'all."

_Epilogue Part Three: Goodbye_

As everyone is laughing and chatting, Aphrodite quietly gets up from her picnic blanket, stilettos in hand, and walks back down the beach, ready to go back to Olympus.

She stops a few hundred yards from the reception, and is ready to go when someone screams, "Stop!"

Piper runs up to her and pulls down her worn shorts. "Geez, Mom, you can't leave without saying goodbye."

Aphrodite, on a whim, wraps her daughter in a tight hug. "Thank you."

"I should thank you." Piper whispers against her mother's shoulder.

"I was just being a mother." Aphrodite murmurs and pulls away. "I have to return to Olympus soon, but I wish I could stay all night."

"Me too." But Piper looks down, embarrassed, knowing her request is stupid.

"You'll see me again, Pipes. Don't worry. I'm my Daddy's little girl, I can get some more time. Just wait a few years till when you least expect me."

Piper smiles wide and begins to walk away, trying to cut the waterworks. "Thank you, Mom."

Aphrodite watches her walk down the beach, and begins walk farther down the strip.

Inhaling, she is about to envision Olympus when someone else shouts for her.

"Natalya!"

Sighing, Aphrodite turns away. This goodbye is going to be harder than Piper's.

"Natalya! Please don't leave. Not without saying goodbye." Tristan runs up to her, polo shirt flying.

"I have to go, Tristan. I'm so sorry." Aphrodite looks down, desperate to avoid this one confrontation.

Tristan embraces her, and his strong arms bring back vivid flashbacks of their time together. She digs her palms into his back and presses her eyes to his shoulder, willing the tears to return to their ducts.

Goddesses should not cry over lost lovers.

Right?

"Will I ever see you again, Natalya?" Tristan mumbles.

"Maybe, Trist. Maybe." Aphrodite says and disentangles herself from him.

She waves goodbye, ignoring the silent tears running down her face and watches Tristan McLean stroll back down the beach, head down, back slouched.

The goddess of love dissolves into golden light.

_How'd you like?_


End file.
